Legends
by Winged Element
Summary: Somehow, quite by accident, two legends stumble upon one another. Will they help each other? Fight? Become friends? Who knows...
1. Encounter

A/N: I'm gonna type up this intro and then go pour myself a big glass of wine because I've had a long day and I'm an adult and allowed to do that! ;p Anyway, I'll keep this short, I've wanted to do this crossover for a while so now I am, TP Zelda just for reference

Disclaimer: I am a college student, figure it out for yourself.

Encounter

Link yawned as he woke up from his nap under the shade of a large tree in Hyrule field, he had been up all night fighting various monsters across the field so the ability to sleep had been most welcome when most of the beasts had been scared off with the rising of the sun. His sleep hadn't been particularly good but the few hours he had picked up were better than nothing. His dreams had been haunted by the faces of his friends, scared and quivering at the sight of monsters in the glade. Worst of all, he hadn't been able to do anything to stop them, there had been pain in his head and then he had come to to see the glade empty…

The blondes' eyes squinted against the setting sun, the unearthly twilight that hung over the Eldin province and he shivered. He did not want to go… did not want to feel his body warp and mutate once again, not to mention that the imp that had decided he was going to be her mount for the remainder of her mission and his. He sighed and looked at the simple shield that lay on the ground next to him and the sword underneath it. He wasn't meant for this life… he was just a simple shepherd boy from Ordon… His thoughts flashed back to the princess and he took a deep breath, steeling himself against the horrors he was sure to face in the next couple days and continued his trek to the unnatural shadows.

-Legends-

Dante looked at the hellgate with a sigh, Trish had told him that it was a small one… And sure, it might be small but the half devil didn't want to have to deal with an extremely unusual one all by his lonesome either… He should've called Nero… the half devil sighed again, at least it was in an isolated area and he didn't have to worry about civilian casualties or even property damage as the farmer had said and quote "I don't care what happens as long as that damn thing is gone!" The devil hunter took that as a sign to be welcome to let loose if need be. He strapped his monstrous sword to his back and slammed the door to his car, eyeballing the demons that had gathered around the tear in the realms, as they were wont to do. Dante couldn't help but raise a brow when he didn't immediately recognize any of them… that was a first for sure… The half devil shrugged the matter off and dashed forward.

"Come on!" he shouted as he leapt into the fray. The monsters drew to him the second he was in range, small fry that usually came through smaller portals like this and easily taken down with a shot from either of his signature guns. What the half devil didn't expect to happen was for the portal to begin to close on its own, pulling everything that it could back into the hell that it had opened from. The hunter tried to dash out of the effected range but was clobbered off his feet by an incoming demon.

"Shit!" he swore as he flipped ass over teakettle into the blue and black portal.

He slowly started to come to some indiscriminate time later, that in and of itself was unusual, he'd been through hellgates before, he didn't usually lose consciousness, then again, he wasn't normally slammed in the head with a goblin like beast on the way either… Getting to his feet and dusting himself off the half devil noticed that he wasn't in hell either… at least, not any part that he'd been to before. It was particularly nice here, the setting sun casting warm light onto a huge plain and while the darkness in the distance could be ominous it wasn't by far the worst thing that he'd seen. He rubbed the back of his head, he couldn't have been out for long, the knot was still there and quickly healing itself.

The sound of footsteps could be heard and Dante tensed, his hand reaching back to the hilt of his sword, he needn't have worried though, as a teenager crested the hill, eyes widening upon seeing another person in the field. He paused and started to reach for the hilt of his own sword when Dante relaxed, presuming this kid wasn't a threat; he couldn't be much older than Nero if at all, he thought. Though the clothing was a bit odd… the kid was wearing a lot of green, not that he could judge having a favorite color… but it was very much a tunic and he could definitely see chain mail underneath the collar… Just what kind of world had he dropped into? They both just stared at one another for a moment, waiting for some kind of reaction, in that moment Dante also took notice of the long, pointed ears that stuck out from the kid's hair. He was the first to break the silence.

"You some kind of elf?" he said, he'd never been one for tact and he'd survived this long, it was much easier to just get straight to the point.

"What?" the kid asked, more than a little confused, he seemed to relax though, the man in front of him was strange to say the least, he was covered in red leather and had the biggest sword Link had ever seen strapped to his back, that and the white hair on a man who was clearly not elderly was enough to make the Ordonian suspicious. Link wasn't quite sure how to respond to the elf comment, it was a word he was fairly certain he'd read in a book referencing the genetic line to modern day Hylians.

"Your ears." The man pointed and Link's hand automatically drifted to his ears, he'd always been a bit self-conscious of them as growing up himself and Ilia had been the only ones with the ears of the ancients, as the elders had said but Link's were more prominent than Ilia's and he had been teased for them on occasion.

"I am Hylian if that is what you're asking." Link responded as best he could, looking over the man's shoulder to the darkness beyond "And just who are you?"

A/N: I'm gonna end it there cause the wine's getting to me a bit and I should go to bed so I can get up for work in the morning…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	2. Introductions

A/N: Hey, back again, should be paying attention in class but... Eh. I'd rather go for this.

Disclaimer: Boo.

Introductions

The half devil grinned at the kid before him and stuck out a hand

"Name's Dante." He said cheerily, the kid eyed him warily for another moment before grabbing his hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Link." The teen looked over behind the hunter again, causing him to look over his shoulder to follow the gaze. His eyes caught on the unnatural darkness that hung on the eastern horizon. He let out a breath

"So... That doesn't look good. What is it?" He asked casually and the teen's sharp gaze caught his.

"The Twilight, it's fallen over the Eldin province." The answer was simple, though to the half devil, it raised a million more questions. He looked the kid up and down again

"You going there?" The defeated look in the teen's eyes answered that for him.

"You know how I can get to a Hellgate?" He asked next and Link looked up at him again, this time with confusion

"What?"

"A Hellgate, a portal into hell, because I'm fairly certain that this is not it." The teen just continued to blink blankly at him and he sighed, running a hand through his snowy hair "Well, you're going toward the gloomy bad stuff, I'll just tag along, it'll be a good place to start looking. Whatever you're trying to do, I'll help you out, free of charge." The kid's eyes shot up to his, surprise more than a little evident in them.

"You... You can't do that!" He said, starting after the half devil, who turned and looked at him, confused

"Why not? Trust me kid, I know how to use this." He gestured at Rebellion clinging to his back.

"It's not that, you... You won't be able to cross into the Twilight." He said slowly, as though not entirely sure of it himself. Dante raised a brow.

"Well we'll never know until we try." He grinned and started off again, hearing the kid sigh and a half mumbled

" _I know_." The comment caused him to raise a brow and look back at the teen, who showed no reaction to his glance and merely quickened his pace to catch up with the elder.

"There will be monsters." He warned and Dante grinned

"Good, it's not a proper party without them." Link blinked at the comment, this man baffled him, he didn't seem phased by the Twilight and was actually volunteering to go into it! The Hylian wasn't sure if the man even _could_ enter the Twilight or if he did, he'd likely become a spirit. The man was determined to tag along though and the teen didn't feel up to arguing with him. He could practically _feel_ Midna smirking at his confusion and he was tempted to throw a rock at his shadow just to spite the imp. He sighed when he spotted several monsters pacing up ahead and pulled his sword from its sheath; he looked to the man standing to his right, Dante just grinned and pulled the massive sword from his own back and charging forward with a yell. Link shouted after the obviously crazy man, what was he doing, taking on so many of them at once.

"He's going to die if you don't help him." Midna said flatly from behind him. Link just sighed and charged after him, yanking out the Gale Boomerang and launching it at one of the monsters to distract it while he went after a second. By the time he finished with the two, all the other half dozen or so were already broken heaps upon the ground. He blinked in amazement at the man who was simply flicking the blood from his blade as though this were a completely normal thing to be doing. He looked up at Link and grinned

"They may be small fry but they're still fun to take out." the blonde just blinked, surprised and wandered off to a rock to clean his blade, the older man followed him and plopped down on the grass, the massive hunk of steel he carried as his own weapon was just beside him.

"So why are you going to this Twilight? I can tell it's important to you but what is it?" Link looked at the man, Dante met his gaze, underneath the overt and rather loud exterior, the Hylian could see that there was much experience and much heartbreak there.

"I need to save my friends, they were carried off by monsters." he said, deciding it was best to leave out the part of being a 'blue eyed beast' and the 'hero chosen by the goddesses,' this stranger didn't need to know that.

Dante sighed and leaned back on his elbows, the kid wasn't telling the whole truth, that much was obvious, but as of right now, he didn't really need to know. He glanced over at the teen again; kid definitely knew how to take care of a weapon, that was for sure. He knew how to use it too, Dante had glimpsed it while they plowed through the demons moments before. The kid might be rather untrained but he could see the fire in his eyes, the burning of a warrior's spirit. When Link was done cleaning his blade the pair made off, fighting off a few other oddities along the way, Dante catching sight of that odd boomerang a few more times before coming into the center of a ravine, the cliff walls tall on either side, they were close to the Twilight, whatever that may be.

"We camp here." Link said simply, setting up a simple camp in the midst of the valley.

"But we could make it there in a couple minutes." Dante said, judging the distance to the wavering black curtain.

"No." Dante looked up at the teen in surprise at the commanding tone "We break here before going in."

A/N: I'm currently loving this :3 That is all

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	3. Revelations

A/N: Hey, typing on my own computer once again, woo! Anywho, I'm so sorry for the delay guys, I'm trying to manage the very end of my schooling and job searching, although I'm not too terribly worried about the later cause engineering is pretty good with that, anywho, storytime!

Disclaimer: Still nothing, that hasn't changed in the past few weeks, sorry.

Revelations

Dante watched the kid from across the fire with curious eyes, he'd seen the teen mumble to his shadow more than a few times and it was killing him not to mention it. Link had that same field of self-conscious secrecy around him as Nero had when he'd met the spitfire back in Fortuna. The half devil stretched out and pulled his beloved guns out; they may have been infused with demonic energy over the years through careful work but that didn't mean that he didn't have to take care of them. He could feel blue eyes watching him as he took them apart, taking out the rags and supplies that he always kept on his person, laying each piece on the cloth with precision. He'd started cleaning Ivory, its twin lying next to it for its turn, when he heard the teenager walk around the fire and settle closer to him.

"What is it?" Link asked softly, Dante paused for half a second in his process, he'd just assumed that the kid used a sword because they were just as effective, if not more so, against demons. But now that he thought about it, the shield and the chainmail made more sense if this was some sort of alternate past… a different world with no technology like he grew up with…

"It's a gun." Said the half devil, beginning to snap the pieces back together, ensuring that the clip was empty before handing it to the teenager. He'd been generating bullets with his own demonic energy for so long he couldn't remember if there were live ones in the gun or not. Link looked over the metal for a long moment before pointing it and looking down the sight. Dante grinned, this kid was clever.

"Is it a weapon?" he asked, watching Dante assemble the other

"Yeah, it's harmless right now though, no bullets." The kid looked at him confused "It's like a bow with no arrows." He explained, Link nodded

"So it fires a projectile." He said, Dante nodded, the kid pulled out a slingshot and the half devil blinked, how young was this kid? "Like this?"

"Yeah…" Dante paused, clicking the last pieces of Ebony back into place "But a lot farther and a lot faster. What's with the boomerang I saw you using earlier, that looked like somethin' else." The teen pulled it out of seemingly nowhere and Dante blinked again. He knew himself and Vergil could do that, so could Nero after some practice but this kid was human… well he was pretty sure, the ears were still throwing him off.

"The Gale boomerang?" Link said, gently offering the weapon. Dante's fingers touched it and his mind immediately made contact with the being within.

 _Who are you?_ The being asked _You are not the Hero_.

 _I am the Son of Sparda._ Dante answered, figuring that the being would know his father first.

 _I know of no such person. I am the Fairy of Winds._ Link's eyes widened

"You can talk to it?" he asked, Dante looked at him curiously, before handing the boomerang back, it disappeared into thin air, just as it had appeared

"Yes. How did you know I was?" there was definitely something strange about this kid. The teen paused, looked behind himself and then sighed

"I'm… not alone. Just don't freak out. Midna." He called behind himself. A second later Dante found himself face to face with the strangest looking little creature that he'd ever seen. He was surprised that he hadn't noticed its demonic aura before but now… well at the very least it was very dull and quiet. The imp noticed his surprised look and grinned, a single fang peeking out in that moment. She turned back to Link

"I told you he wouldn't be surprised. He's a little like you y'know." Her voice was soft, but some part of it still grated against the half devil's nerves.

"Like me?"

"Like him?" both of them said at the same moment. They looked at each other then.

"I think there's things that we both need to be telling each other." Dante said "I'll start, since I've got no real reason for keepin' them to myself. I fell into your world from my own through what I assumed was a hellgate. I'm a half devil demon slayer."

"Half devil?" Link asked, his brow raised, Dante rolled his eyes

"You keep callin them monsters, same difference." The teenager's eyes widened and his hand twitched to his sword. Dante laughed then "I've been traveling with you all day, you really think that I'm going to kill you now?" Link narrowed his eyes at the half devil

"He's got a point." Midna said, lounging back against the log they had found to rest on.

"Now how about you kid?" Dante asked. Link sighed, his thumb rubbing over the back of his hand, it pulsed under his glove lightly and the half devil caught notice of it.

"When I got pulled into the Twilight the first time… I saw the most terrifying thing I've ever seen, a monster unlike anything I've encountered. I thought it was going to kill me… and then there was this glow and…" he took a deep breath "and then the worst pain I'd ever felt… when I woke up again I was in a cell and… not myself. When I got my form back I was told by Ordon that I was chosen by the goddesses to save Hyrule…" the teen's fists clenched

"I just want to save my friends, they really were taken by monsters, I tracked them to Kakariko but…" he looked to the Twilight and Dante could see the shiver that went down his spine and he patted the kid's knee, causing him to jump.

"Don't worry kid, I've got your back."

A/N: I love this so much, it's so much fun!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	4. Changes

A/N: Even though I just typed the last chapter last night… here I am typing the next one… and the last one doesn't even go up until Wednesday… oh well… here we go with the chapter…

Disclaimer: Still no. Although I do have a copy of Breath of the Wild if that counts for anything…?

Changes

The night was rather rough for both of them, Link because he now knew that there was a half monster sitting just across the fire from him and Dante because his mind was too preoccupied with all the details he'd just learned… and it had been a while since he'd had to rough it in the woods. Dawn broke the next morning and found both of them rising, yawning sleepily, Midna seemed to have disappeared again, though a quick search pinpointed her demonic aura to the kid's shadow. Dante smirked, clever thing. Link pulled out some of the jerky he was able to smuggle from Ordon the last time he was there, he offered some to Dante who gratefully accepted. It wasn't pizza but it filled his stomach. He took a deep breath and stretched

"You ready to go take on the spooky darkness?" he asked cheerfully. Link paused and then took a deep breath

"As ready as I'll ever be." He strapped the sword and shield to his back and looked toward the Twilight with new resolve.

-Legends-

The duo reached the Twilight after a short walk and Dante looked on it with curiosity. It was massive, filling the entirety of the area between the rocks where they stood. He was fairly sure that if he climbed them, it would just continue on. It was dark and covered with orange markings that pulsed eerily. It almost reminded him of the demonic barriers and wards that he'd seen throughout his travels. Midna popped up from beneath the kid's feet and looked at him.

"Are you sure you want to try this?" she asked "You might not be able to cross, and even if you do, you'll likely become a spirit." Dante let out a small laugh

"Sounds like fun, let's go!" Midna gave that fanged grin again and then looked to Link who was staring at the barrier with wide, nervous eyes.

"Are you sure you're ready? Once you go in, you won't be able to come back out until the Twilight is lifted." Link nodded once and Midna just floated forward, the barrier rippling like water. Dante started to follow when suddenly an enormous hand shot out and grabbed the two of them, yanking them through the barrier.

Once inside, Dante felt a pulse of energy and looked around, immediately understanding why it was called the Twilight, everything looked like late dusk and small black particles floated in the air. He would've continued to observe when he heard the kid give a yelp of pain.

Link had been dreading this moment ever since he'd learned that he'd have to go back into the Twilight in order to rescue his friends. He was willing to endure the pain in order to save them but… it was still a horrible experience. His body felt hot, like it was burning from the inside out… he yelled, dropping to the ground as his bones warped and snapped into an arrangement that was far from human, fur bristled over his body and nose became snout and teeth became fangs. It felt shorter than last time, less painful, he paused, trying to catch his breath when Midna landed heavily on top of him. He wheezed and turned to glare at her, but she wasn't paying attention to him, she was staring to his left. The Hero turned and jumped, there was a massive red monster standing next to him!

"Kid you okay? Can you understand me?" the voice was warped and lower than he was used to but…

 _Dante?!_ Link thought, what on earth had happened to him?!

"Kid? Link?" The thing that sounded like Dante crouched down offering a hand out gently… it _smelled_ like Dante but…

"What happened to you?" Midna finally voiced his question. Dante blinked and looked at his hands and then paused

"Wait… this is my Devil Trigger but… but I didn't…" a look of concentration crossed the alien features. "I can't turn it off." He said, surprised. He looked to Midna.

"Is this normal for… this place?" he asked, she tilted her head

"Normally, no. But this is something you can do on your own?" he nodded

"Of course, you don't get to be a half devil without any perks."

"I wouldn't worry about it, but I thought for sure that you'd just turn into a spirit." Dante shrugged and then looked at the Hero

"You still in there kid?" Link nodded as best he could. Dante just laughed a little bit

"Well that's good. Where're we going now?" he asked, as though this were just another day to him. And who knows? Thought Link, maybe it was, the man certainly seemed to lead an interesting life. He started off in the direction of Kakariko and was surprised to see Dante take off with wings that he hadn't noticed until just now. He snorted and tried to boost his speed further. He could hear Midna laughing and he thought for just a moment, that maybe this whole adventure wouldn't be so bad.

Dante had certainly been surprised to see the kid shapeshift into a wolf, that was certainly not on his list when he looked at the kid. After seeing the transformation he wasn't surprised that Link had been nervous about advancing into the Twilight, it hadn't looked pleasant. Either way, they had a mission now, well the kid did, Dante was just along for the ride.

A/N: I still love this fiction, poor Link though, none of what he gets forced to go through sounds fun for him. Welp now I've got to do homework…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	5. Monsters

A/N: Alright, last one for this week… sadly I've got so much school junk to do on top of the normal personal stuff… yuck… end of the semester sucks for engineers… we get projects _and_ exams, yay us… _grumbles_ welp, let's get this show on the road.

Disclaimer: I wasn't even born yet when the first Legend of Zelda game was released… so there's that.

Monsters

It didn't take the duo particularly long to make it across the gorge though they did have to take a detour to find a bridge, and Link showed off his ability to track things in his current form. They paused once for a short break after teleporting a massive bridge back into place before taking off again in the direction of the town, which Dante could now see from his high vantage point in the sky. He smiled, he wasn't used to being able to fly for such a long period of time, he was too used to his Devil Trigger wearing off within a few minutes. He could certainly keep it up longer than he used to but even then, he could only hold pieces of it for roughly a day or two… this was kind of awesome, although he missed having the kid to talk to already, not that Link had been a huge conversationalist but still, it was someone to talk to all the same. Now though… he was fairly certain that the imp understood the kid but she was unwilling to share what he said, the kid understood him but couldn't talk more than a bark or a yip. Which he did have to admit was pretty funny and cute.

He landed just before they hit the town and looked at the wolf who just looked back to him and then started forward. Taking that as a sort of 'follow me' the half devil did just that, walking after the hero into the beginnings of town. At least they started to. Pillars dropped from the sky with insane speed and a barrier gleamed between them. Link crouched, growling, staring up at the sky. Dante followed his gaze and saw three dark shapes fall from a very familiar looking portal. He pulled Rebellion from his back, the weight extremely comfortable in his hand. The monsters rose as soon as they hit the ground and Link charged straight at one, leaping onto it and biting into its throat. Dante grinned and followed suit, charging sword first into one, pinning it against the barrier and jabbing the greatsword into it in a flurry of blows that should've been impossible with such a large blade.

Link barely caught out of the corner of his eye that Dante had attacked one and was already biting through the throat of the one he'd tackled, the hot blood hitting the back of his tongue.

 _NO!_ He howled, Dante had just turned to look at him when the ear-splitting shriek of the third pierced the arena. Dante looked up just in time to get pummeled by a large set of claws after his ears quit ringing. He recovered quickly but found himself facing off against the very same monster that he'd just slain, the marks from his blade still within its torso.

"What the…" he started when he heard Link growling behind him, he dodged and looked to the wolf, finding dark energy billowing off of the hero, enveloping the first two monsters almost immediately, they lit up with orange sparks and the third swiftly followed. What happened next was fast even for the half devil's eyes to follow as Link leapt between the three monsters taking each down with a single strike. Dark puffs of smoke drifted away from the three bodies and was swept up into the portal, the barrier and the pillars disappeared, leaving the trio standing amongst the monster's corpses.

Link stalked over to Dante who put his hands up and backed away slowly.

"Whoa there, you still in there kid?" Link barked angrily a couple times before sighing and settling on his haunches.

"Why didn't you lead with that last move huh?" he asked, not expecting a response but he just felt the need to tease the teenager, it always helped lighten the mood after a battle. Link looked at him, clearly annoyed even with the canine features distorting the expression. Midna was laughing.

"He's mad at you." She cackled and Dante rolled his eyes

"Yeah, I caught onto that much. Why? Don't tell me you don't understand him." Midna's grin split even further, a single fang peeking out.

"He's angry that he couldn't tell you that killing all but one causes that one to resurrect the others, also that that move is difficult to land on all three." Link huffed, seeming to affirm Midna's words, he looked to the small pool of water behind them before rising and stepping into the water's edge. Dante wondered if maybe he was just thirsty, but was then taken aback when an orb of light rose from the pool and spoke, the voice was crystal clear but somehow still seemed faint… It spoke to the wolf directly and Dante tried to stay still, this seemed to be important, he'd never encountered such creatures before in his time. He dealt in devils and darkness, not with prophecies and heros…

" _I see you have an unusual companion, step forward child of light and dark._ " The voice commanded and Dante swore internally, stepping into the water, belatedly hoping that it wasn't holy water and relieved when it wasn't

"I'm not exactly a child." Dante joked and was wholly surprised when the spirit chuckled

" _For one as old as I, most are children, please, this is not your quest, but I implore you to assist the Hero for the journey he travels is not an easy one._ " Dante grinned

"Hey, no problem, I've got no issues crashing a party." Again there was the faintest of laughter

" _Thank you, please, retrieve the Tears of Light and free this realm from the Twilight_."

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	6. Tears

A/N: One more to go today… then I get to work on a paper that I should've done literally months ago… but I'm a bad person and waited until crunch time to do the paper… yup… at least it's just about what I do at work, so it shouldn't be too bad, I just really don't want to do it…

Disclaimer: demialcsid

Tears

Dante looked to Midna after the spirit faded, the imp was stretching leisurely, she didn't seem to put much stock in the spirits of this world and the half devil wondered if she came from one of the hells, or if all the monsters in this world were just poor creatures that drew the short stick.

"So what're these tear things were supposed to collect?" he asked, tail twitching in anticipation of a fight. Link turn his head to the side, much to the imp's displeasure and came back with a container of sorts. Dante grabbed it from the wolf's mouth and looked it over, there were sixteen small slots, all looped together in a very artsy way.

"Okay so we put them in this but how do we find them Fido?" Link growled at the nickname and the half devil laughed, Midna smirked.

"The tears are all being held by insects of darkness." The half devil made a face

"Well that's not exactly what I wanted to hear…" he grumbled, despite having faced down the legions of hell themselves, he still wasn't fond of insects. Demonic insects? That sounded even worse…

"They're not hard to take out, just hard to find." The imp said lazily, laying against the teen's back. Link huffed at the gesture and promptly stood up, throwing her off balance, she yelped and Dante couldn't help but grin, they were like a pair of bickering siblings and reminded him of himself and Vergil when they were young and the world hadn't had it out for them yet. They started off then, Link seeming to know where to look despite having told Dante the previous day that he had never been to Kakariko before. He bolted up a path and leapt onto a roof and then promptly disappeared. Dante blinked and quickly flew up to see a hole in the shingles and Link shaking his head at the bottom.

"You okay kid?" he asked and he heard Link huff and assumed the kid must be fine. The teen seemed to be made out of tough stuff indeed. Again he couldn't help but compare this kid and himself, he'd been like that once, out on an adventure with no clue what he was doing and more power than he knew what to do with. A skittering sound above him made him look up and take notice of the largest bug he'd ever seen in his life… it had to be the size of his hand and small sparks of energy popped off it when it moved.

"That's gotta be it." He said, pulling out Ebony and looking down the sight, taking out the monster from a distance. It keeled over immediately and light poured out of its carcass. Dante tilted his head before strolling up to the ball of light. He held his hand out and the tear drifted to rest above his palm. He moved his hand and it moved with him. "Huh…" he mused before gliding back down to the roof where Link was now waiting. The half devil offered the small ball of light and the wolf touched his nose to it, glowing briefly before the light filled one of the slots on the carrier at his side. Dante noticed that two others were already filled.

"Jeez kid, way to make me feel like a noob." The teen tilted his head, obviously confused by the statement. Dante waved it off and they started toward the large hut across the street. Link looked at the roof and then at the half devil before barking wildly. Midna grinned and Dante huffed, understanding what the teen was trying to ask of him.

"What you think I'm your personal lift now that the light spirit asked so nicely for me to join you." Link paused before nodding exaggeratedly. Dante laughed at that, at least the kid still had a sense of humor in that form. He lifted the teen easily enough under one arm, although the combined weight of the imp and the wolf was more than he anticipated and he 'oofed' slightly before bending his knees and leaping into the air. A couple powerful flaps and he landed on the roof, letting the canine down.

"Alright, I can't do that for very long so don't abuse your power." He said to the wolf who was no longer listening, but instead looking into the hut where the half devil could feel several presences. They weren't demonic and that caught his attention. He dropped into the building swiftly, followed by Link a moment later. He looked around and could see what looked like glowing orbs floating in the room, stranger yet, he could hear whispers from them. Link seemed to be better capable of hearing them and looked intently between the orbs, his gaze shifting from one to another as the conversation shifted around. Eventually things fell quiet and he looked to Dante, a small whine coming from his mouth.

"What did they say?" the half devil had already guessed that these orbs were the surviving members of the town. Link shook his head, looking behind himself to Midna.

"He'll tell you later, he said," she translated "he doesn't want to have to go through me for the whole thing." Dante nodded, that made sense. "But he did hear that there's a way to open a secret passage to the graveyard in this room." The half devil smirked

"Alright, what do we need to do?"

A/N: Uggghhhh I don't want to do my paper now… but I need to… *takes deep breath* just two and a half more weeks and I'll be done… completely done…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	7. Human Once More

A/N: Man, I know it's been a few weeks since I updated this one, I've just been busy trying to find a job and finish up school. But hey, I now officially have a bachelors in electrical engineering! So woot! Anywho, I don't really have many excuses since I'm mostly just being lazy…

Disclaimer: Nah bro

Human Once More

Once the two of them had lit all the torches in the room the path opened in the middle of the room. Link paused for a moment, the concern evident even on his lupine face.

"What is it?" Dante asked, halfway down the ladder to the dirt tunnel under the hut. Midna looked at Link.

"The spirits in the room can see what happens in the world around them but they can't see us." the half devil nodded, not too terribly surprised, he expected something like that, normal humans were usually all too eager to pull the wool over their eyes. He'd seen it a million times in his own world, humans who'd seen the atrocities of demons and the next day pretending that it'd never happened. His own city wasn't so bad, but that was mostly because the veil between the human and demonic world was thinner there, people were more willing to admit to a demonic presence when it regularly popped up a couple time a week. Link jumped down after him and followed him to the graveyard where they were able to pick up a couple more of the tears.

"Is that all that's here?" he asked. Link put his nose to the ground and sniffed around a couple of times and then nodded, following his nose back through the hut and out into the town.

"You seem pretty good at this for only having done it once kid." Dante said, thoroughly impressed. It had taken him quite a few attempts to even become remotely decent at his own Devil Trigger, and that was something that he was naturally supposed to be able to do. This seemed to be more of a curse that was thrust upon the teen. Said teen let out a low whine in his throat. Midna hopped around so that she was facing the opposite direction.

"He said that he had to, you learn quick under pressure." the half devil chuckled.

"That's definitely something I can relate to." he said with a shake of his head, thinking back to all the devil arms that he'd picked up in an instant, getting a feel for the weapon and it's powers in order to advance on whatever mission he'd been on. The wolf grumbled again

"He also said that he had to spend several days like this the first time before he was able to change back." Midna patted his head then

"Aww, it's not so bad, you make a rather dashing beast." she said with a grin that Dante couldn't tell if it was genuine or not.

"It's not fun to be stuck in a form that you're not used to though." he remarked, Midna didn't look at him.

"I know." was her curt response. It was silent between the party for nearly an hour after that as they worked their way through the tears, mostly with the help of the teen's keen nose. They were down to the last two and tracked them down to a shop that smelled very familiar to Dante, though it took him a moment to place it. In that time the teen had tracked the insect to the fireplace and picked up a stick and lit it on fire before sticking it on the unlit tinder. _Gunpowder._

"Kid no!" The insects shot out of the fireplace, lighting everything that they touched. The hunter wrapped an arm around the teen and dove straight through the door, covering him with body and wings as the whole place went up in a massive explosion.

Link pushed his way out from under the currently monstrous man, and let out a low whine. The man's back was nearly gone, muscle and bone exposed to the open air, one wing hanging on by a single tendon. He'd already lost so much… he didn't want to lose anyone else…

"Good gods…" he heard Midna mutter and looked up… and nearly retched. The man's body was stitching itself back together, skin and hide sealing up as if nothing had happened, even the wing that was barely hanging on reattached itself. Dante groaned, coughing, and slowly rose.

"Don't do that again…" he muttered, brushing himself off and rolling his shoulders "That one hurt a little…"

"A little?!" Midna spluttered "We thought you were dead!"

"It takes more than a little explosion to put me out of commission. I heal quick."

"No kidding…" she managed, that was more horrifying that some of the forbidden magics that her people had used… just what was this man?

"Trait from my dear old dad… anyway, try not to blow us up again, okay kid?" the half devil addressed the wolf. Link nodded eagerly, not wanting to experience _that_ again. He looked over to the remains of the house and a wolfish grin split his maw. The two remaining tears were just sitting there, prime for the taking. He trotted over and touched each one with his nose, enjoying the feel of the cool energy washing through him. He shook his fur out then, ignoring Midna's cry of protest and trotted back to the shrine, Dante in tow. Midna disappeared after producing the container. Link deposited it in the pool and watched it float to the center, moments later he was able to shake off the darkness that surrounded him like a cloak and stood on two feet once more. Dante sighed as his demonic form faded, it wasn't so unpleasant as it was very much a part of his being but it did become slightly uncomfortable after a while since he'd grown up in and spent much of his time in his human form. A water droplet bounced up from the pool and both men stepped forward to greet the renewed spirit.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	8. Greeting a Spirit

A/N: One down, two to go, as I said in the last one, I really don't have any excuse other than being lazy. I've been applying for jobs like crazy and working a lot so those are my sort of excuses if you guys want to even accept them XD Yeah right. Well in other news Adam and I went to Anime Expo in LA. And holy crap is it packed there! Like nothing I've ever seen before packed! It was fun but I don't think I need to go again. I'll stick with my slightly smaller Youmacon.

Disclaimer: I should figure out how to write this in Hylian, that'd be cool.

Greeting a Spirit

A glowing orb rose from the water and enormous glowing claws enclosed it, a body pulling up and wings folding out into a huge glowing owl. Dante wondered briefly if all of the light spirits were based on animals in this strange realm. Perhaps that was why the kid turned into an animal instead of some kind of monster. He could see in the teen's eyes though that a wolf was considered a monster. He'd have to do something to correct the young man's vision of what made one a monster.

 _I am Eldin, light spirit of this area, I thank you for restoring light to this area, I am afraid to tell you that the other two light spirits have fallen to the Twilight as well._ It looked at him for a moment, seeming to be sizing him up. Dante stood tall and proud. He'd faced down the king of hell himself with little more than his own confidence, facing a spirit that was overwhelmed by a few monsters was nothing. At least that was what he told himself. _Child of light and dark, I thank you as well, for guiding the Hero's path, he will need your support in the future._ The half devil nodded his head, man just wait until he got home and told Trish and Lady all about this. They probably wouldn't believe him. Nero would. But the kid was just so damn gullible… _I need to speak with the Hero alone for a moment._ The spirit informed him. Dante nodded respectfully and ducked out, sloshing out of the pond, the ripples stopping just after the water deepened. That was weird…

He walked back a few steps and lounged against one of the more stable houses. It seemed that if the spirit didn't want him to hear, he wouldn't, because he was only a few steps away and all he could see was Link standing in the pool, taking in what the spirit was apparently saying, he could hear nothing. When the teen was done, the spirit faded back into the water and the kid sloshed his own way back out of the spring. As he did, the door just to Dante's right opened a crack and several small faces peeked out. These must be some of Link's young friends from the village… The blond one recognized the young man and managed a soft

"Link?" As he said this, the other kids recognized him and bowled the poor blond over, racing up to the teen as fast as their small legs could carry. Dante knelt next to the blond and offered a hand.

"Need help?" he asked. The kid looked up and then started, not expecting the stranger. He hesitantly took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"Name's Dante." he said, staying crouched and trying to not spook the kid. He was not great with children, it was half the reason he though Patty was must be mad because she didn't seem to mind the tall, silver haired man who ran around with swords as tall as himself. He was trying to improve, it was only a matter of time before Nero and Kyrie would announce that they were getting married and the half devil knew that Kyrie wanted kids.

"See I told you Link would come save us!" Talon shouted and Link winced, though he was glad that Dante had paused to help up Colin. Colin looked from the large man in red to the boy he considered his older brother and went dashing forward, eager to see the Hylian again. A man whose spirit Link had seen inside the hut came out and stepped up to him, glancing from the corner of his eye at the obvious foreigner.

"…You are the one from Ordon whom these children spoke of?" he asked, a strange accent in his voice. The man wasn't originally from Hyrule, that much Link knew. He'd heard different dialects of Hylian but this was far from that… Link nodded to answer the man's question. His voice felt odd, just as it had last time when he'd been stuck as a wolf for a couple weeks, unable to do anything but howl.

"We are well met." Said the man "I am Renado, shaman of this town. And this." he gestured past a pot bellied man to a girl who was a miniature version of himself "This is my daughter, Luda." the man seemed a little put out by being overlooked and stormed off by himself. Link looked at his companion, who was simply lounging against the hut, arms crossed, looking more than a little uncomfortable. Link stepped to the side so they could all see him.

"This is Dante, we met on the road and he's been a very valuable ally." he said softly, still trying to readjust his human body.

"Nice to meet all of you." the half devil said, waving a hand but not stepping any closer. Link wondered why that was and then saw the older man looking at all the small bodies warily and understood and nearly bust out laughing. The man didn't know what to do with the kids did he? He made a mental note to tease the man later and turned back to his friends, eager to catch up and see what had happened after their capture.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	9. Recap

A/N: So I know… it's been quite a while… I don't have any real excuses other than laziness and being tired after doing so much job searching (which may finally be paying off) so meh… but hey! Here's a chapter now:

Disclaimer: Meh

Recap

"So then we were carried by the monsters all the way here! I fought them the entire way but they were too strong!" Talo said enthusiastically, his arms waving dramatically as he did. Dante couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. This kid just reminded him of himself as a child, full of waaaay too much energy. His brother piped up then.

"No you didn't, you were crying." it was said so calmly that it was almost eerie.

"Nu-uh!" Talo denied, turning from Link to face his brother.

"Did too." The words quickly dissolved into an argument and Link turned to the quiet blonde to get his recap on what had happened.

"The monsters dropped us by the spirit pond, we were able to sneak away then." he said softly, Link just nodded.

"And Ilia?" he asked, matching the young kid's tone. All of the children looked at their toes then seeming almost ashamed.

"We… we weren't able to get her to come with us. She was unconscious when we snuck away."

"But alive?" the teen asked anxiously. The children nodded in unison. This girl must be important to him if he's so concerned with her safety, Dante thought to himself as he took in the small party. They were all so young… not that youth excluded one from hardship, he would certainly know that firsthand but he felt that these kids should be worrying more about what game they were going to play tomorrow rather than whether or not they were going to see tomorrow. He sighed and turned from the building and walked outside. The air was hot, hotter than he anticipated for an area so close to a plain but the canyon walls filtered the sun directly into the valley and the red rock did nothing to minimize the heat. He looked back to the pond where the light spirit had risen. It looked like nothing special outside of being a small oasis in an otherwise extremely hot and arid area. The half devil walked over and knelt by it, wondering if the spirit was watching.

"Look… I've got no problem helping this kid but… I need to get home somehow, I just want to make sure that I'm going to be able to do that… I've got people counting on me there too." he said, feeling a little silly to be talking to a pond and then rose to his feet, brushing off his hands when he got no response for a couple seconds.

"The spirits are always there, even if they don't respond." Dante nearly pulled a gun at the unexpected voice. He whirled around to see the pot-bellied man from before, he had removed the face-shield and looked more than a little defeated. He stuck out a hand and the half devil gladly accepted it, glad that some customs were the same as what he was used to.

"Shep Barnes." the man said with a grin that crinkled the laugh lines around his eyes. Dante couldn't help but smile back.

"Dante Redgrave." the hunter gave the name that he'd been rolling with for the past couple years. The man gestured to the sword slung at his back.

"Impressive blade, it's no wonder you were able to help that kid fight his way in here. You look like you know how to use it too." Dante pulled Rebellion from over his shoulder, the ancient devil thrilling in hopes of a battle which Dante quickly shushed down.

"She's seen me through many a battle." he said and they were both quiet for a moment observing the blade. Dante looked around the town then, taking in the silence now that it was obvious. It'd been different when the land had been covered by that darkness, the twilight, his mind supplied, but now… now shouldn't people be coming out of their homes?

"Where is everyone?" the half devil asked. Shep seemed to become even more tired than he usually looked, aging in that moment so that he was no longer the eccentric man but an older guy just trying to make it by.

"They… well there's a few in the upper loft of Renado's place being looked after but most of them perished in the first attacks by the monsters… We… well we're not equipped to take on those kinds of beasts. Not like you and that kid. Sure, we can handle the occasional straggler but this… this was some kind of organized attack…" Dante paused, unsure of how to respond, he'd never been very good with this, he hadn't known what to say of the people who's city had been destroyed by the Temen-Ni-Gru and he hadn't known what to say after the mess of the Savior incident in Fortuna, thankfully Nero had been able to clean up most of the public mess after that one and his girlfriend certainly had a way with words. The devil hunter opted for patting the shorter man's shoulder.

"It'll get easier, and that kid, he's got talent, he just might be able to turn this thing around." the redhead looked skeptical behind his thick spectacles.

"How can you be so sure? I haven't seen an organized force like that since I last saw the troops of Castle Town."

"Sometimes you just need that one subtle, single-handed push to get things rolling." Dante said, thinking back to how he had changed the tide in the battle for the throne of hell by weakening Mundus. The man sighed and looked back to the pond.

"I think I'll start to clean up what's left of my shop." he ran a hand over his balding head and Dante asked curiously

"Shop?" the grin that spread across the man's face was one that spoke of slightly manic delight.

"Yes, I sell explosives. You should come by when I have it up and running again."

A/N: I wanted to give poor Barnes a chance to be something other than comic relief and this is what happened ^^; (and a first name since he doesn't have one…)

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	10. Death Mountain

A/N: Alrighty, here we go… next chapter, I'm just gonna keep plugging away at these tonight and see how far I can get. Also anyone have an opinion on either of these two fandoms crossed over with Bloodborne? Not at the same time, of course, but each of them, individually. I've been more than a little obsessed with that monster of a game lately (I'm so close to being done with the chalice dungeons I can taste it… then I can beat the game and ascend to a Great One…). Yeah if anyone has opinions on that I'd love to hear them.

Disclaimer: I just…. I don't even know anymore…

Death Mountain

Link saw Dante talking animatedly with the man who Renado hadn't introduced when he finished getting caught up with the children. The two seemed to be getting along swimmingly and the teen couldn't help but think that they made such an odd pair. The short pot-bellied man and the tall strong warrior, chit-chatting. Renado had brought up that they had been having issues with the Goron tribe in the local mountain and didn't know what to do. Link decided that he might as well head up in that direction and could sense Midna's approving glare in the back of his head. She seemed to know that they needed something in the aptly named Death Mountain as well. Dante looked up when Link exited the hut and waved him over, a bright grin on his face.

"Kid, Shep here makes explosives. He said that his shop blew up but he's going to attempt to rebuild it and that he'd love some new customers." Link just blinked slowly, explosives were dangerous… but there was something in the back of his mind that told him that they were also fun and a great tool. It was the same part of his mind that always told him to pick up the new weapon, to try the next puzzle and somehow… they were always so familiar…

"Alright." he said softly "Hey, we should go check out that mountain." he pointed toward the mountain and Dante followed his gaze, as did Shep. The redhead let out a surprised squeak and Dante just looked back at him.

"Uh, kid that's not a mountain, that's a volcano." Link just looked at the half devil in confusion.

"What's a volcano?" he asked, trying out the strange word in his mouth. Now it was Dante's turn to look confused.

"You don't know… you probably just don't have a word for that…" he nodded and then Shep spoke up.

"I don't know what that is either but that mountain there is called Death Mountain for a reason." The shop owner seemed more than a little nervous at the sight of the huge thing in the distance. Dante just grinned.

"Alright, now that definitely sounds like my kind of party…Let's go kid." and with that he started walking toward the path.

"Wait!" Link said, darting after the man, who just turned and looked at him. "We don't have any supplies left and it's at least a day's trip up the side of the mountain on foot." Dante sighed, he really wasn't one to prepare for things like this but he supposed that it wouldn't hurt. The teen turned to Shep.

"Can we get supplies, mostly just rations for a few days and I need a new waterskin… mine's sprung a leak." Shep nodded toward a rather run down house.

"You're welcome to raid the old shop, shop owner's not around anymore so… well no one's lookin after the goods, take whatever you can find." Link nodded and made his way over the ruins, turning the handle and thanking the goddesses for opposable thumbs for what felt like the millionth time, that was always something that he just could never get over… the lack of thumbs as a wolf. Some good digging through broken boards later and the teen was able to find some jerky that wasn't spoiled and a waterskin that was salvageable. He dug his way back out and saw Dante waiting, checking down the sights of his strange weapons, not that everything about the man wasn't strange but particularly his weapons… The teen sighed and started forward, looking at the half devil as he passed him.

"You ready?"

"Oh I was born ready." he said with a wide grin.

-Legends-

The pair gradually made their way up the mountain, hiking slowly, they hadn't run into any Gorons yet and honestly Link was a little nervous about it, he'd never met any, or even seen any for that matter. He knew what they looked like, but only because of heresay and stories from Ordon.

"So why do we need to make our way up this mountain?" the white haired man asked, clambering over another large boulder that blocked the path and offering a hand back to the teen, who gratefully took it.

"Kakariko, oof, they said that they're having issue with the local Goron tribe and that it's very strange, Midna and I both think that it likely has to do with the Twilight." Dante looked at him

"Goron?" the half devil was getting used to hearing words that he didn't know but there was just a point where he had to ask. This one was so silly sounding, he had to know.

"Y'know, big rock people?" the teen said this as though it were the most normal thing ever and yet it stopped Dante in his tracks.

"Wait wait, so you guys don't just have people with pointy ears,"

"Hylians." Link supplied and Dante waved the interruption off

"but you have other races too? These big rock people?"

"You don't?" Link looked to the devil hunter in surprise.

A/N: It's got to be confusing for poor Dante, a world with a bunch of different sentient species, not that devil's don't count but they're on a different plane than humans in the DMC universe so it's got to seem baffling to have these different races coexisting.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	11. Gorons

A/N: Alright, here we go, the next massive set of chapters, trying to catch up for four weeks worth and get prepped for next week, so five chapters to type. I just finished catching up on Time Slip so now onto this one, which honestly I'm looking forward to more.

Disclaimer: I really, really don't own much, least of all either of these franchises

Gorons

"I mean… there's demons and devils but they don't really count, demons live in another plane called the demonic realm but yeah, there's just humans and that's it. Well there's animals too."

"That's so strange." Link said, looking up the pathway and then pointing. "Look, there's a Goron there!" Dante looked up to see a massive boulder that appeared to have arms and legs.

"What…?" he had time to ponder before the rock person looked and saw them.

"You!" it shouted in a gravely voice "No trespassers!" Link looked like he was about to open his mouth to argue and then the rock decided that he'd had enough of their talk and rolled up into a ball and just started rolling down the steep slope toward them. The Hylian boy got a determined look on his face and braced himself against the ground and raised his arms, as though he were going to catch this thing with his bare hands! The boulder kept right on barreling toward them and Dante leapt forward and knocked the kid out of the way and the boulder just hurtled right on by, but not before catching the half devil's leg. Dante winced as he felt something snap in a way that it shouldn't. The Goron skidded to a quick halt and stood, Dante could see a face and a rocky body now that the creature was standing still.

"Get out of here!" it shouted "You're not wanted here!" Link turned to his partner, about to chew him out for keeping him from stopping the large boulder and then saw what had happened to the elder's leg and held his mouth.

"We're going!" Dante called out, waving to the creature as he limped on by. As soon as they rounded a bend he looked over to the young hero.

"What on earth were you thinking?" he hissed, just in case the creature was still in earshot.

"I was going to stop it! Just like when I have to stop runaway goats back home." Link said smoothly. He could've handled it, but he didn't want to argue with Dante while the other man was injured in front of an unfriendly party. The half devil sat down and looked at his leg, took a deep breath, grabbed the collar of his coat between his teeth and then with a terrible click set his leg back into place.

"Kid. There was no way you were going to be able to stop that thing." Dante said smoothly, though the teen could see the glisten of sweat around the hunter's temples. "That was a boulder running toward you, not a fluffy farm animal." Link sighed and then heard chuckling in the back of his head

" _He's right y'know."_ He looked back to the devil hunter who was sitting and studying the gravel next to him with an intensity that the teen hadn't seen from him before.

"Are you okay? Is your leg going to be okay?" He'd seen the man heal very quickly but this was something completely different. Dante sighed, looking up to the sky.

"Yeah, not the first time I've broken something, not even the first time I've broken something due to a boulder but it's not fun whenever it happens. I'm just glad I could set it before it healed wrong. Just give me another minute and I'll be right as rain." he said "It just feels funky as hell right now." Link gave a small smile, relieved that he hadn't put his new partner out of commission so soon in their journey.

"That's good, it's still strange to see someone heal so quickly though when they haven't had a potion." He said, pulling out his waterskin and offering it to the other man. Dante accepted and took a hearty pull from it.

"A potion?"

"Yeah, I don't have any but I've seen them at the shop and in a couple passing caravans, they're usually too expensive for anyone in my town though."

"What are they?" Link gave the half devil a funny look

"They're magic… liquids, they have them for healing, I think they dilute the magic of fairies to create them."

"What…?"

"You guys don't have potions in your world?" Link asked, tilting his head, Dante shook his own and shuffled through his pockets and pulled out a smaller devil star.

"We have these though, they're created from certain types of demonic fluid and they're not particularly common but they do pretty much the same thing but you have to know where to find them." He sighed and then rolled to his feet, shuffling through the rest of his pockets as he did. He would've packed more useful items if he'd known he was going to be thrown into another world for gods-know how long. Then again, he probably would've sent Trish or Lady if he'd known something like this was going to happen. Why did everything have to turn into a shit show every time?

"Do you eat it?" Link asked, looking closely at the star-shaped object.

"No… you just crush it between your hands and bam, everything's right as rain, the bigger the star, the more it can heal, this is a little one." he flicked it over to the teen

"Take it, I heal faster than you and I have more." he said

"Will it work for me? I'm… I'm not like you." he gestured at the half devil

"Yeah, it should, otherwise it won't hurt you, at least, I hope not."

A/N: Welp, one chapter down… lot's to go…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	12. Epona

A/N: Alright, here we go again, just gonna keep plugging away at these things and hopefully get caught up and stay on top of things this time… and while I lie to myself, here's another chapter.

Disclaimer: I'm still not old enough to have any ability to own Zelda…

Epona

Link seemed very disappointed that they had to head back but the half devil knew there was no way that they were going to be able to talk to those rock people and just have them let them pass. The teen seemed very determined to get through though, whatever was in that mountain must be extremely valuable, Dante thought as they descended the mountain. It was late evening when they arrived back at the village and Renado was standing at the edge of the street, looking worried.

"You made it back okay, when Barns told me that you had headed up the mountain I was worried sick, there's no way you could reason with the Gorons, they respect only strength." he said, looking between the two males with concern.

"I don't think they'd even give us the chance to give them that much." Dante scoffed, Link looked at his companion, a little irritated at the man's lack of tact, sure the devil hunter wasn't from this world but Renado was the village leader, he deserved a little more respect. "Unless you know how to stop a boulder that comes rolling down the mountain at you." the half devil continued.

"I do not." the shaman said kindly, not hurt by the strange man's words "But I do know someone who was much closer with the Gorons than most. Bo," Link blinked at that revelation. Bo had been outside Ordon? The man seemed as much a part of the town as the trees that grew in the main square.

"That surprises you?" Renado laughed a little "You have much to learn about your elders Link. Go, talk to Bo, tell him that the children are safe. Of course it'd be better to take them back but we have neither a horse or a cart and the journey is too dangerous to make without those things in these times." Link nodded

"Wait, wait, wait," Dante interrupted before they could get sent off on some wild goose chase. "you want us to go all the way back to his town, which is, what, a week on foot?"

"A little longer." Link supplied.

"Regardless," Dante waved him off "to tell the mayor that the kids are safe and to ask him if he remembers how to get in with the Gorons? Don't you think that that's a little ridiculous? How do we know that you guys won't get ambushed in that time? Will the kids still be safe? Also, how do we know that this guy will know how to reason with these… rock people? He could've been all chummy with them when they weren't angrily throwing themselves down mountains, if he was friends with them at all." the half devil seemed like he was going to continue but Link grabbed the back of his coat and started pulling him away.

"Thank you Renado for the advice." Link said "We'll get right on that." He looked at the half devil when they were safely out of earshot.

"What is wrong with you? He's the village leader and is for a reason, he knows what he's doing." the Hylian hissed at the other man. Dante rolled his eyes

"Yeah, fine job he's doing kid, getting ninety percent of the population killed off, so he saved a few kids, that doesn't mean that he's suddenly a saint and we should worship every word that falls from his lips."

"No, but he's doing the best he can, and he does deserve a little respect, would it kill you to show some? I swear you're as bad as Midna and the worst she does is hide in my shadow whenever someone's around." Dante could _swear_ that he heard the imp laughing at him "Also, they don't have soldiers here, the people of this town rely on their treaty with the Gorons to keep them safe. If the Gorons have holed themselves away, we need to find out why."

"Why is that our job? I thought you wanted to find your friends. Plus don't you already have some big prophecy hanging over your head about saving all the land. Hero chosen and all that?"

"It's not going to hurt to go back to my village, it's only a couple weeks, shorter if we push ourselves." Dante sighed

"The lack of cars here is going to kill me…" he muttered. Link just gave him a funny look and then walked to the center of town. He paused and Dante was about to ask him what was wrong when he heard it too, the pounding of hooves and the shrieks of monsters. He pulled his sword from his back and Link started to reach back when a huge horse rounded the bend, a couple of small monsters clinging to it for dear life. The half devil switched to his pistol and was about to fire when Link held out a hand. The monsters were flung from the horses' body and it charged forward, forcing both men out of the way. Link rolled to his feet, vaulting onto the horses' back when it reared. He's out of his mind… the half devil thought as the monster of an animal bolted forward, right toward Dante again.

A/N: I know that this is really short for me but you guys will be getting like five chapter's this week so… I don't feel too bad

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	13. Family

A/N: I'm tryin' guys… I'm really tryin to catch up… four more chapters of this and then six of Rise and I'll be all caught up for a while, I'm gonna try to stay on top this time…

Disclaimer: My fingers hurt from violin and typing guys…

Family

This kid's gonna get us both killed! Dante thought as he leapt just in the knick of time, the horses' hooves churning up the dust around them. You can't just leap on a crazed horse and… he watched as the Hylian pulled on the reins that he hadn't seen on the horse before, using the saddle to yank himself into it and within a couple of rather terrifying minutes, had the horse under control and trotted it up to the extremely wary half devil.

"Dante. Meet Epona, my oldest friend." The devil hunter's mouth hung open, what were the chances that the crazed horse that ran into town was the one that belonged to this kid. Graced by the goddesses indeed 'cause the half devil didn't see that kind of luck in his life, that was for sure.

"This beast… belongs to you?" he asked, his mouth still hanging open a bit. Dante never considered himself short but this horse made him feel so, this was no simple farm animal, she looked like a draft horse…

"She's not a beast," Link patted the horse's neck, seeming not to notice the foam that had gathered there in the poor animal's flight into town. "she's a sweetie." the horse knickered at him and he laughed.

"Well now we can cut the time to Ordon down." Dante looked at the horse and then to the direction she had come from.

"Uh…"

"Don't worry, she can carry two, we'll just have to go easy on her and walk a bit too, but it'll still be faster than if we didn't have her."

"I uh…" he stared at the hand that Link was offering "I don't know how to ride a horse." he remembered one time as a kid his mom had taken him and Vergil to a ranch to ride for the day but he'd promptly fallen off and had refused to get back on. Vergil had been a natural and he and Eva had had a grand old time romping around while Dante pouted in the corner.

"You don't?" Link looked like that statement was the strangest one he'd ever heard, even stranger than him being from another world or even that he was part devil. Nope, the fact that he didn't know how to ride was the strangest. He sighed

"No, I don't."

"Well it's easy, I'll do all the hard work, plus Epona's a sweet gal now that she's not being swarmed by monsters. Isn't that right?" he directed at the horse, who just tossed her head in apparent agreement. "So, c'mon." he offered his hand again and this time Dante took it and grunted in surprise of the strength of this teen, who yanked him up into the saddle as though he were a feather instead of a fully grown man.

"Ooookay…" Dante shuffled, not liking the idea that his ride had a mind of it's own.

"Hup," Link said, tapping Epona with his heels and the horse started off at a gentle pace. The Hylian had to suppress his laughter as Dante let out a very feminine yelp and grabbed tightly onto him. "Calm down back there will ya? We're not even out of town yet." Dante grumbled, he could _hear_ the smirk on the kid's face. It wasn't his fault that he just really wasn't good with horses… or animals in general actually. He just grumbled again and tried to find a position of hanging on to the young man in front of him that wasn't extremely awkward. If it was, the teen never mentioned it.

They were several hours into their journey when Link grinned back at him.

"See? You're getting the hang of it?"

"Thanks…" the half devil sighed, the only change that he'd noticed was that his thighs were getting sore from the bare rump of the animal and that his hips had gone a strange sort of numb from being spread across the horse's wide back. He sighed "She's a very pretty horse." he said.

"Thanks," Link patted the fuzzy neck in front of him "she was from a travelling merchant who stopped in town. He had a pregnant horse, the mother died giving birth and the merchant didn't have the time to raise a foal on the road so he sold her to me for only a handful of rupees." Dante nodded, figuring that rupees were the currency here, he'd have to get his hands on some so that he didn't feel like he was mooching off this kid so much. Not that they'd had to pay for anything yet…

"Rusl, that's Colin, the little blonde kid, his dad, is _still_ mad to this day that the merchant made me pay for her at all." the teen laughed "You should've seen his face when I came running up with this weak, knobby-kneed foal. He was furious and concerned all at once. He thought I'd stole her. When I told him that I bought her he was so mad! But I promised that I'd take care of her, make her strong. And I did, huh girl?" he patted Epona again and the horse just huffed. Dante just nodded, taking in the kid's story.

"Rusl raised you didn't he?" Link paused

"Yeah, I mean they all kinda did, but Rusl was the least busy and the one who put up with me the most." He looked over his shoulder, his ear nearly poking Dante in the eye on the way past

"What about your family?"

A/N: Poor Dante, he's probably jealous of Link and his normal happy childhood, poor guy just can't catch a break, also I appreciate how Link is baffled that someone doesn't know how to ride.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	14. Ordon

A/N: Hoo boy… so I didn't type yesterday even though I should've, so now I'm sitting here typing before work on a wedneday morning, I don't know how far I'll get but it'll be farther than if I didn't do it at all so onward we go guys… so tired…

Disclaimer: I haven't even had my coffee yet…

Ordon

Dante was silent for a few minutes after that question, looking at the ground beneath them as it slowly moved past. Link seemed to realize his mistake.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine, it still… well my father left when my brother and I were very small, went off and got himself spectacularly killed. Left my poor mother to fend for us. When I was ten demons came, they found us and there were too many of them, my mother was killed and I thought my brother was too. I found him later, he'd fallen to his demonic blood, just wanted to get more power, didn't care who he had to hurt to do it… I beat him and he left to the demonic realm. Several adventures later and well, here we are." The teen was pretty sure there was a lot more to it than that, the half devil seemed pretty broken inside but he didn't say anything, he felt bad for asking in the first place. The other man was pretty uptight about a lot of things, though he put off the extremely casual air and acted as though nothing bothered him. It reminded him of Midna, the imp was very much the same way. Maybe he'd be able to get them both to open up eventually.

-Legends-

The rest of the journey passed relatively quietly, both of the heroes looking to get to their destination quickly. They passed by the area where Dante had fallen into this world but other than keeping a keen eye out, the half devil didn't say anything. He'd meant it when he'd said that he'd help out this kid. He'd have all the time in the world to look for a portal home when this was all over. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to give the area a quick look though as they passed it by.

It was just shy of four days when they arrived in Ordon. They'd gone into a rather tight forest and the half devil noticed how much more relaxed Link was and was sure that they were almost there. He pulled up the horse and said

"We can walk from here, we'll get there just before Rusl closes the bridge to the gate."

"Alright." the hunter said, thankful to be sliding off the massive horse. The first night his legs had been rubbed nearly raw from the animal and he wasn't sure that he'd ever been more thankful for his quick healing. Maybe when he'd been impaled… he was usually thankful for surviving that. He looked over as Link began leading Epona forward and he took a deep breath before walking deeper into the forest.

"Kid you okay?" Link nodded slowly

"Yeah it's just… well the last time I was here I was…"

"Not human?" Dante asked, he himself had had times where Trish or Lady had found him acting more devil than human, he got it.

"Yeah, but that wasn't the problem, it wasn't that I couldn't control myself. It's not so different, being a wolf. They… they didn't know it was me, they drove me off with swords and torches." the half devil felt his heart sink. He couldn't exactly blame the people, though he certainly wanted to, what else would anyone do if they saw a wolf in town just after all the children disappeared? He sighed and put a hand on the kid's shoulder.

"They didn't know." he said softly, not sure if that was the right thing to say.

"I know… it's just…"

"It's hard to see someone the same way afterward?" the hunter supplied and the teen looked over at him and nodded in surprise.

"Yeah."

"It'll be okay, your relationship might be different but you'll learn how to work past it. I'm sure that your townsfolk can't be that bad." Dante teased and finally the teen smiled and shook his head, working his way forward once more.

"C'mon, I'll introduce you." he said with a wave, pulling Epona along with him. The horse seemed to know that she was almost home and her ears perked forward and she picked up the pace, nearly overtaking Link's stride.

They came across a bridge a few minutes later and saw a man walking down it, looking tired and shaken.

"Rusl!" Link called, starting forward more quickly. The man looked up and his eyes widened in shock before the teen wrapped him into a big hug.

"Link…" the man said, his arms slowly rising to embrace the boy, squeezing him tightly once the surprise had settled in. "Link! What happened? Where are the others? Are you alright?" he didn't even seem to take notice of Dante who approached slowly, watching the man carefully.

"They were kidnapped by monsters, most of them got away already, they're in Kakariko but Renado doesn't feel safe bringing them back just yet. Colin's there." he said and with that the man seemed to relax immensely. He finally seemed to notice Dante standing there, feeling more than a bit out of place.

"Who's this?" he asked, nodding at the stranger. Link smiled at his friend.

"This is Dante, he's been helping me look for the others."

"Others?"

"Ilia is still missing." he said and Rusl frowned.

"Bo is going to be heartbroken. Anyone else?" Link shook his head. Rusl sighed and then stepped forward.

"Nice to meet you, my name's Rusl. I'm sorry you had to come visit at such a sad time." he said.

"Dante," the half devil took his hand "it's nice to meet you."

A/N: I know it's a weird spot to leave off but… meh…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	15. Home

A/N: Second to last chapter for this one… then I'll be on to the next one, which if you're a fan of Vergil you should totally go read! Shameless self plug aside, I'll get started on this now…

Disclaimer: I still don't own this… sadly.

Home

They helped Rusl with the gate and headed back toward the town. Link paused at one point and looked off to a small grove. Dante looked at where he was staring and saw nothing, though he was sure that something was prickling just at the edges of his senses. He stared at the spot, trying to will something to appear but the kid just shook his head and continued forward. They hadn't quite reached town yet when they came upon a small home built into a tree. Epona knickered and walked over to the side of the house to graze. Link felt his shoulders relax, he was home. His adventure wasn't over, not by a longshot, but he was looking forward to the refreshing night sleeping in his own bed. Rusl smiled at him

"Don't go sleeping too late, everyone in town is going to want to hear what's going on." he said, patting him on the shoulder and then continuing into town. Before he was quite out of view he shot back

"I hope your home isn't as messy as it normally is, you have a guest!" Link winced lightly and looked back to Dante who just shrugged.

"It can't be nearly as bad as my place. Lady's always getting on my case about it." Link laughed then

"I don't know, Uli was always getting on me about it. That's Rusl's wife, she's expecting a baby." Link explained as he began relieving Epona of her saddle and bags. "Oof, girl you need a bath tomorrow before we head out again."

"We're heading back out tomorrow?" Dante asked, raising an eyebrow. He'd figured that the kid would want to stay in his own town for a few days to recover before they were kicking it in the wilds again. Frankly the half devil was really looking forward to sleeping with a roof over his head, he didn't know if Link had an extra bed, but at this point anything that wasn't dirt would be an improvement.

"We need to talk to the Gorons and find out what's upsetting them so much, Midna's fairly certain that there's something else that she needs there."

"Speaking of things that I can't always see." Dante said "What were you looking at back on the road."

"There was a wolf… a… spirit. I met him earlier and he told me that when I had my form back that I should go find him. Well, I wasn't really looking but… I should go speak with him."

"It's a wolf." Dante said

"Yes."

"It talks?"

"Not with words, no." Link said, he shuffled in his pockets and then handed Dante a simple iron key. "Here's the key, let yourself in, there should be a kettle near the fire and spare blankets in the chest, I'll be back shortly." And then he disappeared. The half devil watched him go, he had no idea about being chosen by deities but he did know a bit about responsibility placed on you just because of who you happened to be born as. This kid was just unlucky enough to be chosen as the hero for something that was a lot bigger than him. He sighed and climbed the short ladder to the house, the key clicked smoothly in the lock and the door squeaked softly as he entered. The interior was dark but the half devil had no trouble working his way around. It was cluttered but like he had thought, it was nowhere near the mess that occupied his own home. He found flint and steel sitting on the mantle and with a bit of effort, he struck up a fire, thankfully he'd had plenty of practice in the last few days as the pair had often caught and roasted their own food. He sat back and waited for the teen to return.

-Legends-

Link found the wolf waiting in the exact same spot, simply there. If not for the sound of it's soft pants and the glow of its coat, he probably would've passed it by entirely. He took several steps forward toward the majestic beast when it suddenly leapt into a crouch, snarling at him. The hero pulled out his sword and waited. The wolf lunged and Link went down.

When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the forest just outside his home. The ground was cold and misty for as far as he could see. As he got to his feet he could see the same wolf sitting calmly in front of him once more. Panicked, he reached for his throat and felt no wound. The wolf tilted its head back and howled, its shape rearranging into that of a skeletal man. The teen was wondering if he'd made the right choice in trusting this spirit as it spoke. As it did, he remembered the dream like state in which he'd met it before, it had been just as disorienting that time too. How could he have forgotten how he'd gotten here last time…?

"We meet again." the words were not spoken into the air but rather Link heard them in his head "You look a bit more of a hero than you did last time. Come. Show me what you have learned." Link took a deep breath, pulled out his blade and charged forward.

A/N: I know, I know, this one's also a bit short, but that was the perfect point to leave off so that's where it's going to end, besides, you guys get like four chapters this week. That's four times as much as normal… if I were regular about updating… anyway

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	16. The Village

A/N: Still just plugging away over here… third chapter of the day, last one for this fanfiction, then I'm onto the next fanfiction to start working on catching up over there… We'll see how it goes. Anyway, I'll just get this one on with.

Disclaimer: I love both these things but that doesn't give me ownership rights…

The Village

Dante was starting to get worried. That and tired. He'd been tired when they got here but now that he was sitting under a pile of blankets next to a fire he felt even more sleepy. But he refused to fall asleep without the teen showing his face again. He was almost ready to get up and go looking for the kid when he heard him ascending the ladder outside. The door swung open to reveal Link, looking dead tired and a little worse for wear.

"What happened?" Dante asked, concerned that the kid had gotten into some kind of fight that was a bit out of his league. Link was a pretty good fighter from what the half devil had seen so far but that didn't mean that something nasty couldn't have worked its way out of the woods.

"Ugh." Link grunted, not even bothering with his boots and walked forward to faceplant onto his bed. Dante sighed, the kid was just tired and overreacting. He blinked when there came a soft snore from the bed not even a minute later and tried to suppress his giggle. He shook his head and stood up, shivering now that he wasn't under the blankets anymore and walked over to where the teen had promptly passed out. Moving carefully, he unlaced the hero's boots and pulled them off, followed quickly by his socks and with a bit of finagling, his sword and belt. The half devil felt the presence of the imp pop up behind him and asked in a whisper

"What happened?" Midna shrugged

"I can't see the wolf either. he went over to the place where he said it was and then collapsed, just like he did last time. When he woke up he looked more tired than when he fell over."

"He collapsed and you didn't do anything?!" Dante hissed, he pulled the hat off of the kid's head and then rolled him over to get the tunic and the chain mail off. He couldn't imagine that that was comfortable to sleep in and the teen had no reason to, not if he was sleeping in his own bed.

"I can't actually touch anything in this form." she said, running a hand through his arm to make a point. "Besides, this happened last time he met the wolf too and he woke up just fine, just tired and cranky till he'd gotten some rest."

"What happens while he's out?" the half devil wondered, finally getting the hero tucked into bed before returning to his own makeshift sleeping place.

"I don't know, he didn't talk about it last time, but I did notice that his swordplay was greatly improved after the last time." the imp said with a yawn.

"I'll ask him in the morning, for now I think it's best that we both get some z's." Midna could only nod in agreement.

-Legends-

The next morning was chillier than the last and the fire had died down to just embers by the time they woke. Dante wondered, not for the first time in this world, where he was at first before recalling all the events that had led him to this point. He yawned and stretched, feeling several things pop back into place that weren't where they should've been. He stood up and ran a hand through his hair, he'd never realized how much he would miss indoor plumbing until he didn't have it, his hair was awfully grimy and he just felt… gross. Sure he'd had worse, you didn't fight your way out of the internals of a leviathan for nothing but that didn't mean that he enjoyed it. He started scrounging around the small home for something to eat.

Link woke up feeling very bare… he reached off to the side for his sword and started to panic when it wasn't there. He shot upright and then realized belatedly that he was back in his own home. The teen let out a sigh, trying to calm his racing heart, he could hear Dante down by the fireplace, shuffling through the kitchen, muttering under his breath. He looked off to the side and found the rest of his clothes, he didn't remember taking them off last night. Dante, he thought and then smiled, he didn't need to be treated like a little kid but he was still appreciative, he would've woken up very sore and irritable if the half devil hadn't removed the items last night. He looked to his shadow, Midna was still sleeping, as she was wont to do for most of the day, she spent a lot of time sleeping now that he thought about it…

"Kid, you awake?" Dante leaned back so that he could see up the ladder to the teen's bed. Link nodded and started down. "Good," the half devil said as soon as he was on solid floor again "cause I have no clue what to do with all these pumpkins." Link laughed then, the devil slayer looked so absurd, standing in his kitchen with no more than pants on, holding a pumpkin as though it were the most confusing thing in the world.

"Here, there should be some jerky and cheese in that basket, pumpkins would take too long. Although…" he looked into the bottom of the small box that he normally stored some food in. "Yup, there's some dried pumpkin seeds in here."

"Mmm…" Dante sighed "What I wouldn't give for a pizza right now." Link just tilted his head at the man

"Pizza?" the hunter just sighed

"Of course you don't know…"

A/N: Finally… caught up on two, onto the third

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	17. Bo, The Mayor

A/N: Okay, so I just had a lovely fight with Word, and by lovely I mean awful… so yeah! That was fun… not… I'm not happy to be out the amount of money that Microsoft charges these days for word but I'm paying an effing subscription when the only thing I care about is word… *grumbles*

Disclaimer: Apparently I barely own a copy of Word 2016 so….

Bo, The Mayor

Link looked over at his companion who was munching on the food he was provided without complaint. He looked over to where he normally kept a bucket of water and sighed when he found it empty. He shouldn't have been surprised, he'd been gone for several weeks but that didn't mean that he wanted to have to drag himself down to the spring to go get more. He sighed, he could use a bath anyway and it was still warm enough to do so in the open water instead of having to drag enough back home to heat and bath here…

"I'm going to go bathe." he told his companion, assuming the other man would likely want to do the same, they had been on the road for quite some time and hadn't had the safety or the water to stop and do so.

"Where?" Dante asked curiously.

"There's the spring just down the road, I have soap and fresh clothes, though I don't think I have anything that'll fit you…" Dante just shrugged

"Cleaning myself up is better than nothing," he said, following the Hylian as he gathered up the few things he needed and then walked out to the side of his house. He untethered Epona and brought her along too.

"She could use to be scrubbed down as well." he said with a shrug. Dante just nodded and followed the pair down the road to the spring. The air was warm enough at this point but Dante could tell just by looking at it that that water was going to be as cold as ice… Link took a deep breath and waded in, pulling his horse behind him. Epona followed her master as though the water wasn't as bad as Dante thought. All the same he took his time shucking off layers of clothes, looking at the dirt and monster blood that had collected on the leather as they had traveled. He sighed and dunked it in the water, scrubbing it off as best he could. He'd rather deal with being wet and cold than continuing to be grimy. The half devil then lay the garments over a mossy rock in the sun, hoping they'd dry off a little bit before he went to put them back on…

-Legends-

The water had, in fact been just as cold as he thought, though at least he wasn't the only one who thought so. He'd noticed Link shivering a couple times as they passed the soup back and forth. And now he found himself following the kid to town to talk to this Bo character than Renado had mentioned to them.

"You really think that he's going to have the answers?" the half devil asked as they walked. He'd left his coat back at the house to finish drying and he felt awfully bare without it.

"It's better than nothing, plus he's really the only lead we have, unless you have a better plan for reasoning with the Gorons."

"I mean we could always fight our way through." Dante said with a shrug, Link turned and gave him a look.

"There's an entire city of them in there, you really think that we could fight our way through that many of them, plus whatever monsters inhabit the deeper parts of the mountain, which is likely where this thing that Midna needs is." he said, just as he spoke up they rounded the corner and were looking into the town. It was small and Dante wasn't sure that he felt justified in calling it a town, there couldn't be more than half a dozen families living here. Then again, Kakariko was supposed to be a larger town and the half devil had wanted to call it a small village by his standards. Link headed right for one of the houses, probably the mayor's and knocked on the door. There were a couple moments of silence before a large bald man with the silliest mustache that Dante had ever seen opened the door. The man's eyes widened upon seeing the teen in front of his door and he promptly scooped the boy into a massive bear hug. Dante could actually hear Link wheeze as all the air was squeezed out of him in that moment.

"Hi Bo…" the teen managed. The mayor put the boy down and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Link… I can't believe it… you're alive…" He said and the teen nodded

"Yeah… it's been a long couple of weeks…" the Hylian said back and Dante paused when he realized that not everyone had the pointy ears that Link did… was that common? Had everyone in Kakariko had round ears…? He'd have to ask the teen about it when they were alone again, he had a sneaking suspicion that the kid was rather self-conscious about it.

"Come in, come in and tell me about it." he looked up and noticed Dante. The half devil was beginning to notice a pattern here… "Who is your friend?" he asked

"This is Dante, he's been helping me out, I wouldn't have made it this far if it wasn't for him." Link said.

"Well any friend of Link is a friend of mine, come in, come in." he ushered them into his modest home and immediately put a kettle over the fire. He then joined them at the table. When he sat down, Dante could see the tiredness in his eyes and the worry etched all across his face. This must be the father of the girl who was still missing…

A/N: Poor Bo…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	18. Wrestling

A/N: I swear to god… I'm gonna punt that dog downstairs. It cries until it's exhausted and then falls asleep and then it wakes up and does it again. I'm trying to talk to the people downstairs but they don't seem to be doing anything about the damn thing. But I can't live with the constant barking… I can't just not sleep during the week… If it's not better by the end of the week I'm gonna have to start filing noise complaints… I don't want to but… I can't do this day in and day out… Sorry just the ramblings of a very tired person who is about to pull their hair out…

Disclaimer: If I had owned either of these I'd trade both for simple peace and quiet… no barking…

Wrestling

It took Link a good long while to explain just where he was and how he'd come to be where he was. Dante just sat and only piped up when Link got to the part of how the half devil had come to be in this world. He let Dante explain it how he wanted to, with as much or as little information as he pleased. Though the hunter told the other man as much as he could recollect, what did he have to hide in a completely different world? He didn't mention that he was half devil, these people didn't need to know that; he also noticed that Link didn't mention the whole werewolf thing. He didn't think it was the best idea. The hunter had come to realize that hiding who and what he was didn't help in any way. Granted he didn't shout it from the rooftops, but he didn't go out of his way to hide it either. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Renado said that we should come talk to you, that you were old friends with the Gorons and that you might know a way in with them." Bo chuckled lightly to himself, though there wasn't much humor in the laugh.

"That tricky old man, he said he wouldn't tell anyone crazy stories about my wilder days." he rubbed the back of his head. "Though he wasn't lying, back in the day I was a bonafide member of the Tribe." Link looked taken aback by that statement.

"You were? How?" Bo laughed again.

"I used to travel around Hyrule before I settled back in the town of my forefathers'. I used to wrestle in taverns, outside of taverns, in the town square in the middle of the night, wherever there was money changing hands and a man to beat out of the circle." he laughed a little again and shook his head "Ah, those were some fun times, dangerous but fun. Anyway, I wanted to get better, despite already being considered one of the best in the rings, so I went to the Gorons. and trained with them before I met Elaine, rest her soul, and then settled down here." his eyes were a bit misty and distant when he finished, his mustache twitching a few times before he took a deep breath and waved his hand, snapping Link out of his mesmerized gaze. Dante laughed under his breath, there was a lot more to the cheery mayor than he initially thought.

"Anyway, that's long in the past, though I can teach you a few tricks that I had back in the day, though you won't become a master of it overnight." Link nodded eagerly and then looked to Dante at his right, the half devil just shrugged at him.

"What're you lookin at me for, my permission? This is your quest, learn what you think you need and then we'll get back on the road." Bo looked to the hunter again.

"How about you mister? You wanna learn something too?" Dante laughed, thinking back to the days when he and his brother used to wrestle in the front lawn, their father watching from the porch to be sure that they didn't injure each other too much as they bit and kicked at one another, learning how to fight and fight dirty.

"Nah, I think I'm good. I'll wander the town if it's all the same to you." he said, rising to his feet and dusting off his coat, the leather having collected much dust in it's still damp state.

"Please do." the mayor gestured to the door and moments later the hero was left alone with the mayor. Bo looked at him and then waved him down.

"Come, I still have a ring in my basement." the two descended down the stairs to a dusty ring in the middle of the dim basement. Bo lit a few lamps and then toed off his shoes, stretching as he did. Link copied him, the back of his head tingling much as it did when he met the golden wolf, the old hero. Like this was something that he should already know how to do, he'd just _forgotten_ somehow.

-Legends-

Dante was lounging on one of the pillars that stuck up near the pond that rimmed the side of the town. The wind was whistling through the reeds next to him… it was utter peace… Until there was a loud clang next to his head. He bolted upright, gun pulled and pointed at the noise when he heard laughter. He looked up to see Link standing next to him and the heaviest pair of boots he'd ever seen laying askew right next to where his head had been laying.

"Not funny kid." he grumbled, holstering the weapon. Link was still snickering as Dante went to pick up the one of the boots and was surprised, it was _heavier_ than it looked.

"What are these for?" he asked, turning it around and observing it.

"To beat the Gorons at their own game." the teen said.

"Wait… are you telling me that Bo used to _cheat?_ " Dante grinned and Link just shrugged, his cheeks bright red.

"I mean, whatever gets us in the front door right?"

A/N: I can hear it through my Bose and my music…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	19. Return to Kakariko

A/N: Alright there's no way I'm going to finish this chapter before anna tells me she's ready to go work out but I'll get started at the very least, make my job when I get back a lot easier ;p Anyway, I'll shut up now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that jazz, though it'll be a couple weeks after by the time this gets put up.

Disclaimer: I don't own this, I don't even own all the Zelda games, though I'm only missing two.

Return to Kakariko

The pair decided to wait until the following morning to leave town. Most in the village were sad to see Link turning and leaving so soon but as Midna continued to remind him, they needed to get the item in the Goron's mines. She had yet to tell him what those items were, which frustrated him. Maybe he could ask Dante about them, the other man had many strange weapons and maybe he'd have some answers. The teen sighed and rolled over in his bed. What had his life come to, chasing monsters and travelling with people from other worlds? Link just stared at the ceiling, wishing that things could go back to the way they had been.

"It doesn't change." he heard suddenly from the floor by the fire. He blinked and leaned as far as he could to see over the loft that his bed rested in. Dante's eyes were closed but he seemed to know that he was being looked at. "Once the adventure calls, I mean. You're lucky that you got to have a childhood before you were swept away." the teen swung his feet over the side of the bed and hopped down to the floor with a soft thud. Dante rose up onto his elbows and opened his eyes.

"Are you sure? I thought…"

"That you could just come back to this sleepy little village?" Link wasn't sure if that was an insult or not sometimes it was hard to tell with Dante. "Sorry to burst your bubble but it doesn't work that way, sometimes I wish it did, that I could just give it all up…" the half devil sighed, sitting up and looking into the flames. "Once that spark is ignited in you… you can't just leave it. I can see it in you kid, you have that burning drive to protect, to help others. You fight like you enjoy it too." Link balked a little bit at that, not wanting to admit it. Dante looked over his shoulder at the teen.

"Sorry if you didn't realize that yet, it's not a bad thing, not if you temper it." something about the way he spoke now just reminded the teen of the golden wolf, the ancient hero, why did he keep thinking of that lately? Next time he'd have to ask the hero what his story was, if he was willing to share it. Did the old hero think that if he passed his knowledge onto someone else that he would finally be able to rest.

"You'll always miss the simpler times." the half devil said, holding his hand out to the flames, warming his fingers. Link watched the fire reflect in the other man's eyes, thinking of the monster that Dante could become.

"Do you?" the hero asked. Dante nodded

"Of course. I miss having a family, well in the traditional sense. I miss the afternoons of simple exploration with my brother…" he shook his head "I try not to dwell too much on it, the past is the past and we can't go back."

"How old were you?" Link asked, he himself knew that he was a capable adult now, a true member of the village but that didn't mean that he sometimes felt like a small child, thrown into this massive journey that was far beyond his capabilities. Dante huffed

"I was three when my father left and nine when the demons finally caught up with us and took my mother and brother away from me too. Vergil wasn't dead but he might as well have been." he said.

"I'm sorry." Link said. The pair fell into silence, watching the flames burn low over the embers before the half devil sighed and leaned back onto his makeshift bed.

"Well we should get some rest before we head out tomorrow, it's gonna be another hard ride isn't it?" Link sighed too, rising to his feet

"Not that hard, you're just not used to riding a horse." he said with a small grin, shaking his head, still not believing that someone could be that inexperienced with a horse. Dante just huffed at him, though the teen could swear that he felt a pang of sympathy from Midna. He was surprised that she'd stayed silent the entire time…

-Legends-

It was early when Link woke, it was unusual for him but he chalked it up to the recent adventuring and to the anxious heart that had him tossing and turning the whole night. He packed up food to last them the whole journey, or at least near enough, they could supplement with any catches that they might make along the way. The hero saddled up Epona and then walked back inside to find Dante already awake and checking his strange weapons, pointing down the sights a few times before deeming them worthy and slinging them into his holsters. He ran a hand through his hair and looked to the teen.

"You ready?" he asked and Link nodded

"Ready as I'll ever be." he said and walked out of his house, wondering when exactly he'd ever see it again. He didn't bother locking it, if the villagers needed into it they were welcome to. Dante looked at him for a moment

"What did you end up doing with those boots?" he asked, Link patted the pouch at his side and the half devil blinked for a moment.

"Wait… what?"

A/N: Alright, I'm gonna call it there, I've got one more to do tonight.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	20. The Chase

A/N: Hoo man all I want to do right now is play the new character I made on Bloodborne with my friend, I haven't played the game online before and it's a lot of fun :) I didn't realize how much it added to the game. You'd think that I'd be sick of the game after putting 300+ hours into it but… nope, still crazy over it… I think my next crossover will be with Bloodborne, give that game some love, it doesn't have nearly enough fanfics. Theories yes, but not enough fiction on it ;p

Disclaimer: I own very little, and while I like that, Zelda and DMC are not among those things

The Chase

Dante ended up discovering that the teen was capable of a feat similar to what he himself did with all of his devil arms in that he could put them in a sort of… pocket dimension. The half devil wasn't so surprised by that, he was surprised that Link was the one doing it, he had assumed, when Link explained it, that the little imp that travelled with him was the one responsible. He was fairly certain that the pouches on that peculiar outfit had something to do with it but he decided that now was one of the times where keeping his mouth shut was probably best.

The ride back to Kakariko was long but passed by at a good pace, they were back in town by the end of the week and had slept and stocked up to go up the mountain the following day. The kids in town had tried to drag the poor teen off to show them something that they had found and the half devil had to gently pull him back. The hero had a soft spot for the kids despite being a fair bit older than them. They were just about to leave town, had rounded the bend in fact, when they hear the thundering of hooves. Dante raised his head, he was starting to get a sense for the monsters here and what their power felt like, it was different than the ones in his world. Link whirled Epona around and the half devil nearly fell off as the teen pushed the horse into a gallop. Back around the corner they went and there they saw a massive troll-like creature holding up the small blond boy. Link snarled and urged Epona faster even as the monsters whirled their boars around and thundered back out of the village. They broke out of the canyon and back into the field and Dante growled. The monster had tied the kid onto his pole like a banner. Link pulled his sword and charged, completely caught in the moment. Dante wasn't sure if Link even remembered he was on the back of the horse. He didn't blame the kid, instead he leapt from the animal, triggering as he leapt into the air.

Everything went gray and time slowed as he pulled on an ability that he hadn't touched in ages. He was sure that to everyone else that it looked as though a red and black bullet had just snatched the kid from the pole. He flew a good ways away and landed before letting go of his quicksilver trick. He could hear the sound of the boars and Link yelling from over the hill and he stood, releasing his Trigger and pulling out his guns. He'd help the kid from back here.

-Legends-

Link could barely see through the haze of red that clouded his vision. How dare they lay their filthy hands on an innocent child! He would make that monster pay! He barely registered as Dante leapt off the horse and then veritably exploded away and toward the main boar. The steak snatched Colin off of the pole and then disappeared. It didn't matter, Link only had eyes for the one troll. He urged Epona on, chasing down the blue tinted boar, ears not registering the sounds of gunfire or the smell of blood behind him. He slashed where he could, looking for gaps in the armor, not feeling the bite of the spikes from the boar's armor on his own flesh before they separated and went at another pass.

It only took a couple more passes before the troll stopped trying to attack him and instead fled off into the hills to nurse it's wounds. The teen was about to follow it when he remembered Colin. The poor kid was probably terrified. He spun Epona and looked around the field. Dante sat with the kid, guns still raised and smoking. The half devil must've shot off any creature that had come within range of his weapons. Link pulled up his horse when he got to the other man.

"He's okay." Dante said "Just a bit bruised. Let's get him back to town." Link nodded and pulled the half devil and his smaller companion up onto the horse. A couple minutes later they were back in the town square and Dante had just slid off the horse to help get Colin into the healer's hut when he turned.

"Link? Are you okay?" he asked. The teen blinked a couple times, why wouldn't he be okay…? Oh… his thigh hurt an awful lot… He looked down to see the fabric of his trousers shredded and the skin right along with it. He could feel the blood dripping down into his boot. That wasn't good…

A/N: I know that that's cutting it pretty short but I need to get on to the other one tonight and it was the best place to leave it, sorry!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	21. The Trek

A/N: Alright so this is a bit different, I'm typing before I go to work. I'm currently debating if I'm going to post this chapter this week or if I'm going to hold onto it as I usually do. If I do that, then you guys are going to be short a chapter this week but… yeah I didn't type up any chapters as I normally do last week but I needed a week off, a bit of time to recover you might say. I'd just been really busy. Anyway, I'll quit making excuses now and get on with things.

Disclaimer: Still don't own either. Sorry

The Trek

Link blinked blearily, for a moment not sure of where he was, and then realized that he was in Renado's home, the shaman had his back turned at the moment but he did recognize the many small faces peering over top of him. The children all looked at him with worry.

"Link!" Talo shouted and Beth smiled in relief, why was everyone so worried about him…? He could practically _feel_ Midna roll her eyes and then he remembered the chase after the boar… Where was Colin?! He sat up and was about to swing his feet over the edge of the bed when Renado turned around.

"Ah ah, just give it some time, you shouldn't be walking on your leg like that. The wound was clean and easy to stitch but you should give it a day or two before getting up and running around on it." At the mention of the wound, Link felt a twinge go through his leg. He couldn't be stuck here… he had so much he needed to get done!

"Where's Colin?" he asked instead.

"He's fine, just a rather nasty bump on the head and a few cuts and scraps but he'll make a fine recovery." Renado said "Now please Link, just relax, the Gorons can wait another day or two before you run off to go hurt yourself again." the shaman said in a very no nonsense kind of way. The teen sighed and leaned back against the pillows. The wolf in him was feeling very antsy and he _needed_ to go, now. He looked off to the side of the tent, appreciative when Renado herded all of the remaining children from the room and he was left alone. At least until Dante seemed to come out of thin air. For wearing such a bright color, the man could really fade into the background if he wanted to. For a moment the teen wondered if the half devil really could turn invisible.

"How you doin kid?" the hunter asked, sitting himself down on the edge of the mattress. Link sighed.

"I don't think I can handle being cooped up here for a couple days… I'm going to lose my mind if I have to have any more delays getting up that mountain…" Dante laughed a little then.

"Well how about you just wait until tonight, I'll pop a devil star for you and then you'll be right as rain… probably. And then we'll storm the mountain and give those rock guys the what for, huh?" He nudged the teen's shoulder. He'd dealt with an injured, keyed up teenager enough times to understand that making compromises was probably the best way to get out of it without losing any fingers. At the very least, Link was a lot more even tempered than Nero, probably had to do with the demonic blood… Link sighed again.

"I suppose that's the best we're going to get, isn't it?" he asked and Dante nodded "Alright then. I guess I better close my eyes, we're going to have a long night…"

-Legends-

Renado had just checked on him one more time before going to bed when Dante slipped into the room like a shadow… wait a second… that _was_ as shadow. The thing that looked like Dante but wasn't him handed him one of the glowing green stars that he'd asked the half devil about before and the teen took it warily and then just stared at it. The shadow huffed and then held it next to the wound that was currently wrapped neatly, crushing the star in its hand. Link felt a strange tingle work its way through the wound, the skin itching and the teen bit his lip as the uncomfortable feeling passed. Suddenly his leg felt heaps better and he put a hand to the wrappings, not feeling any pain. The shadow grinned, rising to its feet and waving for him to follow. Link rose from bed, putting the rest of his gear back on as quietly as he could and then followed the shadow from the hut. Dante was waiting near the spring, all of Epona's gear collect but not saddled onto the horse. Link was about to question it when he realized that the half devil likely didn't know how to. He sighed and saddled up Epona, pulling Dante onto the horse behind him and then spurring her through the streets.

They didn't talk until well after they had left the town and then Link just asked.

"How?"

"Oh? My dopple? It's a nifty little trick that I picked up years ago, he tends to blend into the shadows a bit easier than I do, so I sent him in instead." Link just sighed

"How many crazy powers do you really have?" Dante laughed

"I've been asking myself that question for years, and I'm picking up new ones all the time. Don't worry, none of them are harmful unless I want them to be."

"That's… reassuring…" Link muttered, feeling Midna's amusement from his shadow.

A/N: I know it's a bit short but I need to go to work! Sorry for the week off!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	22. Base of the Mountain

A/N: So… hungry… waiting… for fish to thaw… ugghhhhh… In the meantime I'm going to type, so yeah… by the way guys, if you haven't listened to the Adventure Zone, you should, because it's freakin hilarious and awesome!

Disclaimer: Still none…

Base of the Mountain

The pair slept at the base of Death Mountain that night, secluded in a small cave away from the prying eyes of the intermittently patrolling Gorons. Link sighed, rubbing his hands together, it was cold without a fire but they couldn't risk it… Dante scooted a bit closer to the teen who didn't object, simply leaned into the warmth of another person, even the little Midna curled at their legs, the mountain air was cold down at the base at night…

"Bet you're missing that thick coat of fur right about now." Dante teased and Link glared at him.

"I don't miss anything about that form… it's…" he paused, seeming unsure of what to think of that part of himself. The half devil shook his head, the ghost of a laugh escaping him.

"Don't reject your nature, it doesn't do you any good. I know kid, it's easy to think of some part of yourself as a monster but you're the one who determines what kind of person, or beast, you want to be. Tell me, you're still in control of your actions when you're a wolf aren't you?" he asked gently, the teen looked at him

"Well…"

"You are. I could tell, sure you might have some different instincts but you have those as a person, you're in control of your instincts as a person, as a swordsman, right?" Link nodded slowly.

"Same thing, you'll get used to it, it might be different but you'll eventually feel just as much yourself in one form as the other." He leaned back on his elbows. "Get some shuteye, I'll take first watch." he said. Link sighed and leaned back and then smirked

"How angry do you think Renado is that I left without taking his advice of another day's rest?"

"Very, thankfully he'll have time to cool off while we take care of the problem here on the mountain."

-Legends-

Link slept fitfully in the cold air and only took a gentle nudge from Dante to wake back up. The half devil nodded toward the mountain. The hero looked at him

"Don't you want to rest?" The hunter shrugged

"I doesn't make much difference to me, I'll make it until we get to the top, I'll sleep better when there's some warmth to the air." Link sighed and then looked over to Epona, unloaded a few things from her saddlebags, adding it to his own pack and then patted her on the rump

"Go on girl, go back to the village for now." The horse snorted and then began a gentle pace away from them.

"You're not afraid she'll get lost."

"Nah, she knows the way back." the teen said, checking his pocket for the boots, they were still there, right at the top too, perfect. He and the hunter started up the mountain.

It was a long trek, though it felt longer than the last time due to the lack of good rest that the pair had. Eventually they reached the same point that they had made it to last time, the narrow pass with a couple of Gorons waiting at the top. The one on Link's side spotted them first and shouted

"Hey! No humans allowed!" and curled up into a ball, rocketing toward them at an insane pace. Thankfully Link had pulled the boots on before they rounded the corner and planted his feet and raised his hands. The half devil wanted to push him out of the way once again but he couldn't interfere, not just because he was worried. Besides… he looked up the path and saw the other Goron rocketing toward himself, it seemed that he had his own problems to worry about. He pulled out Rebellion, preparing to take the blow… this was going to hurt.

Link grunted as the mass of solid rock came into collision with his hands but he held firm as he was pushed backward several feet but pushed the Goron off to the side before he could uncurl in front of him, letting gravity do the work as the creature went flying off the ledge and down the path. There was a massive clang right next to him as Dante caught the second one with his sword, the rock creature actually dwarfing the massive blade as he tipped to the side, allowing this one to follow his companion down the mountain. The pair looked at each other, slightly out of breath before Link started laughing, Dante couldn't help but join in.

"Ohhh boy, I don't suppose those are the only strategically placed guards huh?" Link shook his head

"I doubt it, though I hope they're pretty few, my hands and arms are going to be so bruised in a bit here…" Dante looked at him, worried

"Let me know if you need another devil star, I've got a few more." Link nodded

"I will but I don't want to waste them, we should save them incase we really need them." The half devil sighed, the kid made sense but he shouldn't be walking around in undue pain if he didn't need to be.

There were in fact five more guards waiting up the mountain which the pair took turns tossing off behind them.

"I hope they don't catch back up with us…" Dante said, looking at the path behind them as the last guard went tumbling down the slope.

"Me-" Link's words were cut short as the earth beneath their feet rumbled. The teen flinched and Dante just stumbled.

"Why's there an earth…" he trailed off as he looked up to see ash billowing from the top of Death Mountain. "Of course it's a volcano…" he grumbled. The teen was looking at the earth in shock.

"Why did the ground start…" Dante sighed

"It's an earthquake kid, caused by that volcano." he pointed to the ash spewing from the peak. He tugged the kid around the corner and then they both pulled back at the sight of several Goron guards in a sort of make-shift camp. Dante sighed again

"Kid I've got a plan but you're probably not going to like it…"

A/N: Oh no! Dante what're you going to do!? *cue melodrama

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	23. The Match

A/N: Okay so don't tell anyone but I'm typing at work right now... Shh... it's fine… Anywho, I'm just gonna try and shoot this out as quickly as I can…

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the computer I'm typing on right now…

The Match

"What plan…?" Link looked to the half devil warily, nervous as to what the man was planning. Dante just gave a mischievous grin

"Don't worry about it, just close your eyes and don't move."

"Don't move?" Link had time to ask before he was yanked up into the sky. He gave the smallest of yelps before he had the good sense to shut his mouth. He'd barely taken another breath when they landed in the mouth of cave that served as the Goron's entrance to the mountain. As soon as his feet hit the ground he turned and glared at the hunter.

"Please warn me next time you decide to fly me up into the sky." the teen said, Dante just laughed and started walking forward.

"Come on kid, we need to get going before we get caught. They can't have completely missed us when we flew in." Link grumbled under his breath before following the other man. He could hear Midna snicker behind him and sighed.

Once inside the rumbling of the mountain seemed even more ominous and the teen was sure that this was why the Gorons had sequestered themselves away from the village down the valley. They walked forward a ways into a dark tunnel before they found themselves stepping into what had to be a gathering area. Several Goron heads turned to look at them and the pair froze.

"Uh… hi?" Dante tried, waving at the group who was now glaring at them angrily.

"How did you get in here?!" Demanded one of the angry ones at the door. Dante wondered if their skin was actually made of stone or if it just looked like it was as he watched the creature stand up to them.

"We mean you no harm." said Link softly, his hands raised in a gesture of peace. The half devil almost wanted to laugh at that. Right because they were going to harm these stone people…

"Calm brothers…" came a rumbling voice from the back of the room and a bent and rugged looking Goron came from around the corner. He was hobbling on a cane and squinted at them as he approached. "Please, this pair must have travelled far and must have good strength and good reason in order to have worked their way inside… Travelers, what brings you to our mountain?" he asked, looking the two of them up and down as he did. Link stepped forward and Dante made no move to stop him, the teen was far more familiar with the different races of this world than he was.

"We come from Kakariko Village down the valley for Renado, he wants to help you and to know why you've cut off communications with those outside the mountain." The old Goron eyed them warily.

"That is not something that we will share with outsiders. Good day." with that he turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Link called "A challenge." The Goron looked over his shoulder "If I win, you tell us what's going on, if I lose, we'll leave and you'll never see us again." The elder smiled

"And I can name the challenge?" Link nodded and the elder's grin grew wider

"Fine then, we'll settle this as by tradition. A wrestling match. I accept your challenge." Dante let out a breath, he knew that this was what the kid was hoping for but he wasn't sure that Link could win, he'd only had a few hours of quick pointers from Bo. Certainly that wouldn't be enough…? The elder nodded to one of the Gorons standing guard by the door and the creature stepped up into the sandy ring set up in the middle of the room. Link took a deep breath and joined the huge rock like creature. Not for the first time, Dante found himself extremely worried about the young hero, how on earth was he going to be able to stand up to this thing…? All the Gorons circled around the ring and the elder stood off to the side and looked to Link.

"Do I need to explain the rules to you?" Link shook his head.

"No I'm familiar." Dante blinked, noticing just now that the teen had the iron boots on his feet. When had he…? The Hylian and the Goron squared off and the half devil stood in the back, wanting to interfere but knowing that he couldn't… The elder clapped his hands, signalling the start of the match. The half devil held his breath as the Goron started forward with a shout and Link ducked his head catching the creature around the middle, barely budging an inch as the Goron came to a screeching halt. The teen gave several pushes forward before the Goron was able to shove him back but the teen just ducked under again and gave one mighty push, sending the creature off the ring and onto his back.

The silence was so thick that you could've cut it with a knife. It was only broken by Dante's sudden laughter. Link let go of the breath he was holding, allowing himself to pant from the exertion at last. The Gorons had all looked back to the hunter and then to the teen in shock. Midna saved his ass once again by pulling the boots into the magic pouch before the Gorons could notice them. Link looked to the elder.

"Well? I think you owe me an explanation."

A/N: I know it's a smidge short but… that's the best ending point I've got…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	24. Volcano

A/N: Hey guys, so I know it's been… a week? Two weeks? I don't remember, well you would've gotten a chapter last week but idk, I'm not always on top of things, I'm only human you know, so anyway, I'll just get on with this.

Disclaimer: I…..don't own it.

Volcano

The elder sighed, shaking his head and rising up walking forward to meet them. Dante tensed at the older, but still clearly capable stone man coming up to them.

"You've seen it… I'm sure." the elder said, his voice sounding less guarded and more resigned. He sounded like a man who was trying to hold onto his bravado and had little else to back himself up. "The mountain. Going off without pause."

"It's a volcano," Dante said "it could just be time." the elder gave him a look that made him stop at once and very much reminded him of when he was younger and his mother would silence both himself and Vergil with a single look.

"When the mountain began to rage, all four of us elders and Darbus, our patriarch, went inside to investigate its anger." The elder paused and sighed before continuing. "We have a treasure that was entrusted to us by the spirits, and we must protect it. Do you understand?" Link nodded but Dante just shook his head.

"Why don't you just take the treasure somewhere else?" he asked

"Because it is locked deep within the mountain, we had to retrieve it before such a thing could even be considered. We did make it down to the treasure… but the moment Darbus reached out and touched the treasure… everything went wrong. He collapsed… and before our very eyes transformed into an unspeakable monster! He began to rage through the mines, trailing ruin behind him… and the eruptions grew more frequent and more severe. We used all our strength to seal him away… It… grieved us to do this to our patriarch… but we had no other course of action. I have no right to ask this of you two but please… aid us in saving Darbus!" The earnest look in his eye and the idea of the monsters he might be able to fight was enough to convince Dante, though the elder's next words made him want to roll his eyes. "Make no mistake, the spirits have guided you here. I, Gor Coron, need you help… On behalf of my entire clan, I ask you for your aid!" Link knew what a huge deal it was for the elder to ask for help so directly, especially from an outsider such as himself.

"We'll help you," the teen said softly, nodding to the Goron "on the condition that you stop forcing people to leave and allow contact with the outside world again."

"Of course, though it isn't safe for you pink skins to make your way up here right now with all the eruptions going on." Coron said with a small smile "I'm amazed that the two of you made it all the way here without being burned to a crisp!" Dante just laughed,

"It seems we have lady luck on our side for once!" Coron simply gave him a strange look and gestured to the entryway to the mines, where two Gorons stood guard. They moved to the side, providing them with enough room to pass.

"Oh!" Coron called after them as they started to leave. "The mines are full of all kinds of traps to keep the treasure from thieves, not to mention, now that the eruptions have started, all sorts of monsters have made the mines their new home. Getting to the patriarch's location will not be easy. I'd have your blade at the ready." He said this so casually and Dante huffed as they actually walked into the heated tunnel.

"And they're okay with their day to day workplace just having traps in it? That'd be like if I trapped my house so that people couldn't sneak up on me." Link nudged him.

"They might still be able to hear us, be nice. They're a proud people, it took a lot for them to be able to ask for help back there." he said, Dante looked at him. It was so strange, at times it felt like the Hylian was the older one, not the other way around…

"Have you met them before?" the half devil asked.

"Before a week ago, I'd never seen a Goron before, let alone challenged on to a wrestling match…" the teen said "I was so nervous, I was afraid that I was going to get squished." He laughed and adjusted the hat on his head before looking down the tunnel. Hot air was rushing up to meet them and brushed against their faces as they made a steady decline down to the Goron mines. Dante looked at the teen's back

"You glad that you picked up that metal shield huh, with all that heat I wouldn't be surprised if there was lava down there."

"Malo charged me an arm and a leg for it, I can't believe him. I tell him I'm going to help rescue the village and he tells me that he just needs to do business…" the teen shook his head and then seemed to catch onto something that Dante said "Wait, what's lava?" Just as they entered the mines proper, a bright orange glow lighting the room.

"That." said Dante gesturing to the molten rock that flowed in a veritable lake beneath them. "That is lava." Link just stared open mouthed.

"What is it?" he asked, peering cautiously over the edge of the platform that they were standing on.

"It's melted rock, y'know how you melt ice and get water? You melt rocks and you get lava. It's super hot." Link gave him a flat look

"Really. I couldn't tell by the heat waves coming off of it." Dante just shrugged. Link looked across to the other side of the room.

"So… time to cross."

A/N: Alrighty, one down one to go.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	25. Heat

A/N: Alrighty then, I have to wait a bit for my best friend to get home from work so we can go work out so until then I'm going to be working on typing, hopefully I can get most if not all the way through it before she gets back. Anyway, I'll just get right on going…

Disclaimer: I don't own one, what makes you think that I'll own the other?

Heat

Dante leaned back against the hot cavern wall, more than a little bit out of breath. He hadn't had to deal with this kind of heat in a very long time, and the last time he'd done that he'd been in hell… literally… The half devil sighed and looked over at the teen who looked equally beat. The pair had been working their way through the Goron mines for several hours now, it was hot hard work to even find safe passage across most of the rooms and even then, a lot of them were filled with varying monsters that seemed to have nothing better to do than try to kill them. Link paused and wiped the sweat from his brow despite knowing that it was a futile effort.

"So what do you think they actually mine for in here?" the hunter asked, looking up at the ceiling before lazily raising a pistol and shooting a couple of the small lava monsters from the roof. They squealed as they fell, curling into small balls and burning out on the ground.

"I have no idea, iron?" Link said "I honestly don't care as long as after we get the artifact we're looking for they stop being so hostile with the village and I never have to come this deep again." the teen was overheated and it was making him cranky.

"What are we looking for?" Dante asked, he was debating taking his coat off just for the relief, but he had nowhere to store it, he still hadn't figured out how to work his pocket dimensions with things that didn't have demonic energy fused into them and sadly his beloved coat wasn't a demon… or a devil arm…

"That's a great question, Midna won't tell me. Probably the same thing that the Gorons are trying to protect." the hero said as he slowly rose to his feet, keeping an eye on the ceiling as he did. All it took was one burn to the shoulder to never forget about those nasty little lava creatures again.

"Well Midna?" Dante said, knowing full well that the imp could hear him. She popped out of Link's shadow and looked around.

"I highly doubt that what the Gorons are protecting is something that my people made." she said and then paused, seeming unsure of her last statement.

"Alright. Spill." the half devil sighed, keeping secrets was just way too much work most of the time, it's why he tried not to bother. The imp gave him a look of frustration and he matched it, she didn't have to deal with this heat, being incorporeal and the hunter was out of patience. Link looked curious as well, Dante had a feeling that the teen was just too polite and too worried about his friends to give a rat's ass about what Midna was hiding.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she said, looking off to the side childishly. Dante huffed.

"Seriously? You keeping secrets is not helping any of us, not in the tiniest bit. So just pull us into the loop, it's not like it's going to put us in more danger. We're already standing in the middle of a freakin volcano so I'm not sure how much worse you think it's going to get."

"I agree." Link said "I've helped you long enough without any answers but if you want any more of my assistance, you're going to need to tell me what's going on."

"You can't refuse." Midna laughed "You're doing this because you're the chosen one of the goddesses." Link crossed his arms.

"They can find a new chosen one. I'm in this to help my friends. I'm well on my way to considering you a friend but you have to give a little here and there too." Dante was actually impressed with the kid, Link had always struck him as rather passive but this was a step in the right direction. He also appreciated the fact that the kid wasn't very sold on the whole "Chosen One" thing either.

"We're searching for something that my people made… a long time ago. We… we used to be part of your world, part of the light. Then they tried to take over, tried to usurp power from the golden goddesses and they were banished for it and the relics broken and scattered. We're looking for those relics." She refused to make eye contact with them as she spoke, as though she thought that they'd reject her after hearing that she was a part of a banished people.

"Okay." Link said "Anything else?" Midna sighed

"Not right now, okay?" Dante shrugged

"Good enough for me."

"How powerful are these relics?" Link asked, he'd heard many a legend in his time in the fields between him and Faro and from passing merchants who liked to flap their tongues and swap tales, many of them featured relics from ages past.

"Powerful enough to push the darkness back. Powerful enough that you can get your land back." Midna said "Can we go get it now, you two look like you're going to melt." Link laughed then

"Yeah, I suppose we should keep moving."

"Link do we have any water left?" The half devil asked, the teen looked back at him.

"I don't know how long we're going to be down here. Yes we have some but we should use it sparingly…" Dante sighed and hung his head, following after the teen.

"I was afraid you'd say something like that…"

A/N: I like the idea of Midna not being a dick and actually telling everyone important plot stuff before the journey's halfway over…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	26. Hero's Bow

A/N: In a meeting where there's not much to do at the moment so… typing it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own the laptop that I'm typing on right now

Hero's Bow

The duo had just opened a door, Link made a mental note that this door was bigger than the others that they had opened; thinking back on the last dungeon that he'd conquered. Just as the pair stepped inside the door slammed shut behind them with a solid boom! Link sighed and Dante whirled around.

"What was that?" he asked, looking back at said door. Before Link had the chance to answer a very loud voice boomed out ahead of them.

"Who is it?" The largest Goron either of them had ever seen stepped out onto a large platform. He looked between the two, squinting with beady eyes. "You're not brothers! No humans are allowed in the mine!" he stomped a foot and the platform sank from the force some of the supporting rocks giving way. Both Link and Dante squirmed, trying to keep their balance as the platform teetered and the lava that surrounded the platform looked all the more intimidating. Link leapt out of the way as he saw the huge Goron barreling toward them and hoped that Dante had the sense to do the same. This was going to be a miserable fight wasn't it…? The teen looked up to see Dante in his monstrous form, wings flapping against the hot air, he must have jumped over the Goron. The teen looked as the projectiles from the half devil's weapons pinged harmlessly off the Goron's thick stone hide. That wasn't going to do them any good, neither would the sword on his back, not unless he was hacking at the head, which was far higher than the teen could reach or ever hope of jumping...

As though the Goron had heard his thoughts, the huge creature jumped high in the air, impressive for one of his stature and came slamming back down on the platform, causing it to tilt and swing wildly. Link was nearly thrown from the platform, grabbing the edge and holding on as though his life depended on it… and looking at the lava below, it probably did...

"Gotcha kid!" Dante swung through and scooped him up into the air, only to deposit him right back on the still swinging, though less wildly, platform. He couldn't blame the hunter, it was probably hard enough to keep himself in the air with the stagnant heat of the room and he wasn't exactly light with all of his equipment and… his boots! He looked down to the platform, it was made of that same stuff that he had used in the past several rooms to stick to the ceiling. He could anchor himself to the platform. The Goron leapt again and Link flicked his boots out of their pocket dimension and onto his feet. This time when the platform swung about and threatened to dump them into the lava he stayed steadily where he was. The Goron was swatting at Dante now, seeming to think that the hunter was little more than a pest. He probably thinks we're both pests… the teen thought and then it struck him. The only way they were going to get through to this creature was through a show of strength.

"Dante! Just like on the way up the mountain!" The half devil paused in his assault of the creature to look at him.

"Kid are you crazy! This guy's huge! That's suicide!"

"Not if you help me!" he said, the Goron was looking between the two of them and shouted.

"No more talk! You must leave! Now!" And then he curled into a ball.

"Yes…" Link whispered, setting his feet to brace himself, this was going to hurt… badly… he watched the incoming mountain of rock and prepared for the impact… He couldn't help the yell that came out of his chest when the pain zinged up his arms, though it wasn't as bad as he was expecting. He looked up to see Dante also straining against the monstrous Goron.

"My left!" he managed to squeak out, hoping that the hunter heard him and shifted his weight to dump the unsuspecting Goron off of the platform. Thankfully the half devil had and helped to push the creature into the boiling lava below. The Goron yelled painfully when his tender stomach area came into contact with the heat and there was the distinct smell of burning flesh as the Goron scrambled over it to one of the more stable ledges and barely managed to haul himself on top. The burns were not as bad as if he'd been human but they still weren't pretty. The pair had their weapons pulled when he climbed back up.

"I'm sorry… only the strong are supposed to go visit Darius, only the strong are supposed to be able to wield the treasure, you have proven yourselves to be strong… the treasure is ahead. Please, if you can… help Darius..." Link nodded and then asked

"Will you be okay?"

"Yes. It takes more than that to down a Goron, I just need to rest." Link looked at Dante then and then to the next platform.

"You think you could help me out getting over there?" Dante rolled his eyes then.

"Sure, you sure you don't want to nurse the big guy back to help though while you're at it?" Link sighed.

"He was just doing his job…"

"Uh-huh." the half devil grunted as he hauled the teen across the gap and they passed into the next room to find an unopened treasure chest. Link looked at Dante

"This must be the treasure he was talking about…"

"Must be, open it." The teen hefted the lid open and then looked at the contents. A finely crafted bow lay amongst satin within.

"It's a bow."

A/N: Alright so I know this is late… but meh? I'm not the most accurate with uploads but I don't leave anything unfinished so…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	27. Bowels of the Volcano

A/N: Alright… hoo my lungs are dying, it was windy and cold outside, not the most condusive to running 2.5 miles… but y'know, gotta get those pokestops somehow XD (not the only reason I run but…).

Disclaimer: I still, to this day, do not own either Legend of Zelda nor Devil May Cry.

Bowels of the Volcano

Link lifted the bow in his hands, the wood was finely crafted and fit his grip perfectly, it was almost like it was made for him… He looked back into the chest and lifted out the matching quiver. Dante looked at it skeptically

"A bow? In a place that is filled with lava?" Link looked back at him

"It's a heck of a lot better than my slingshot, I'll just have to be careful with it, not to mention, I think that the Gorons have been keeping it here for a long time, it might very well be spelled against fire."

"Spelled against fire? You mean like warded?" Link tilted his head at the older man, sometimes he said things that the teen was sure came from his world because they were terms that the hero had never heard before.

"Probably?" he said and Dante just shrugged and then looked at the bow

"Can I see it?" Link held it away from the half devil who just pouted "I'm not going to break it or anything, I just want to hold it." Link shook his head

"Not before I fire it you doof." Dante smiled and then gestured to the crystal that hovered over the next door.

"Fine, be my guest, I bet you ten bucks that you can't hit that crystal." Link gave him a look and lifted the bow and notched and arrow. He took a deep breath before pulling back on the string, it was heavier than he anticipated but the motion felt fluid, like he'd done it a thousand times before, and a thousand times before that. The hero tried not to think about it too hard as he sighted down the shaft and released, the arrow sailing with a twang! It whistled through the air and struck true, though the teen did have to admit, it wasn't that hard of a target. He wasn't expecting the crystal to change colors though and the door to lift up off the ground and reveal the next room. He looked to the half devil who was smirking.

"C'mon, you didn't think that that was a puzzle?" Link shrugged, he supposed that it was obvious now but he just hadn't considered it yet. "Nice shot by the way." the hunter said, gesturing to the bow. "Can I give it a shot next? I just want to give it a good feel." he winked and Link made a face at the meaning behind his words, slipping the bow into the pocket of his tunic.

"Just for that, no, no you can't." he walked forward, the half devil unhappily following behind.

-Legends-

They soon came upon a room that had an enormous door in it, with a lock that was unlike anything that Dante had seen, Link simply sighed when he saw it. He looked over to the kid

"What is it?" Link just shook his head

"Darius, plus this shadow thing that Midna's looking for is behind that door." Midna's ethereal form popped up in front of the hero and said

"How did you know? I can sense it but how did you?" Link rolled his eyes then and pointed to the lock.

"It's a guess, mostly, but I'm not stupid. Look at that lock, doesn't that look a lot like the one from the forest temple? I would bet good ruppees on the head Goron being locked up with whatever this shadow thing is."

"It's called a Fused Shadow." Midna said

"And you said that these things have the power to corrupt?" Dante asked, thinking back to his brother, and how Nero had struggled with the same power from the sword that had been passed down from father to son.

"They can, they don't always, but sometimes… the shadow has… well a bit of an influence of its own…" she said, not wanting to meet either of their eyes. Dante nodded

"I understand. A weapon can corrupt, especially when it can think for itself." He felt Rebellion pulse gently from his back and grinned, he was lucky that the devil that had become the sword cared so much for her charge. Midna blinked at him and then grinned that impish little grin of hers

"And you're not worried about when I get all of the pieces?" she asked, Link looked justifiably nervous and Dante just laughed, shaking his head.

"No, you've given me no reason to be nervous so far, and I figure that we got plenty of time to continue to get to know one another before this whole things finishes up."

"You'll have to tell me about your own experiences with these 'living weapons' that you seem to be referencing." she said and the teen whose shadow she inhabited looked over at him.

"You have living weapons?" he asked and Dante just smirked, for being as clever as he was, that kid was a bit dense sometimes, it reminded him of another teen that he knew.

"Of a sort." he said, patting the massive sword on his back "Rebellion here's one of them, but those are stories for other times. How do we get through this door? I don't suppose busting it down's going to be a legitimate option?" Link shook his head and pointed to the lock

"The only way's going to be to get the key."

A/N: Alrighty, wow, I just powered through that a lot faster than I anticipated… welp I guess I'll just move onto the other chapter for the week then…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	28. Darbus

A/N: *sighs* maybe this chapter will get us out of Death Mountain… maybe, that's the goal… anyway, here we go, it's one hell of sleepy Monday…

Disclaimer: I, shocker, I know, do not own the rights to either of these.

Darbus

"Is that the last one? Please tell me that that's the last one?" Dante said with a sigh as they exited the small hut built into the natural caves of the mountain. Link nodded

"Yes, this is the last one." he said with a small grin himself, they were so close to the end of this particular adventure, one step closer to freeing his friends… He worried his lip as they headed back to the room with the massive lock. He hoped that his friends were still alive... The teen shook his head, they had to be… He couldn't let himself believe otherwise.

"I think I've forgotten what it feels like to be cool." The hunter said, running a hand through his hair, the sweat causing it to stick in an upright position. He shook his head and the hero flinched as a couple sprinkled onto him.

"Hey!" he said, dancing away from the spray. To be fair he was pretty well drenched himself at this point, the chainmail underneath his tunic wasn't helping in the slightest. His first plan upon leaving this mountain was to run straight into the spring in Kakariko and not come out until he was shivering and his lips were blue. Dante laughed at the teen's antics, it was good to see him not caught up in this thoughts, he'd been doing that far too often, he couldn't afford to be so caught up in the moment, he needed to be ready for the fight that they were about to face.

"You ready?" Dante asked seriously. Link looked at him, sharp blue eyes darkening and reminding the hunter of the animal that lurked just beneath the skin of this particular teen

"Yes." The teen looked up at the door as he answered and then back down to the three pieced key that they had retrieved. He took a deep breath and put it in the lock. The lock spun and dropped to the floor with a heavy thunk, the chains retreating into the walls just as they had in the forest temple. Link wondered what they kept in this room when it wasn't being used to contain the head of this Goron tribe. The double doors sliding back interrupted his thought process.

The trio stepped into the dark room. There was a dull glow coming from somewhere far above them. As they entered the room and the doors behind them boomed shut the glow flared brighter and brighter as the massive humanoid form was lit from within. Heat poured off of what could only be the head of the Goron tribe as the lava that composed his form brightened to a hot orange glow. Link heard Dante curse under his breath and he took his own sword from the sheath, twirling it in his hand. Darbus roared, any semblance of humanity gone as he ripped the chains binding him from the wall, Link rolled to the side to avoid the heated metal as it clattered to the floor with a loud crash. Midna swirled up from his shadow.

"The jewel in his forehead! That's where the fused shadow is!" she shouted, pointing upward. Hero and hunter both looked up and caught sight of the jewel that glinted in the low light. Link winced as Dante fired his weapon straight at the target. The bullet glanced off the front of it and the monster whirled, chains rattling and swooping across the ground as Link leapt backward to avoid them. Dante swore and leapt _onto_ the monster's arm, darting up and onto its shoulder. Roaring, the monster leaned back, trying to swipe at the half devil who was scurrying overtop of it. Link saw his chance and he took it, he pulled out the new bow, knocked an arrow and aimed down the shaft.

"Kid, it's useless, if my bullets didn't do anything," Dante dodged under a hand "that bow sure as hell won't!" Link pointedly ignored him and took a steadying breath before loosing the arrow. The arrow struck the jewel with a quick flash and the monster that had once been a Goron let out a cry that caused both men to wince as it stumbled around, clutching its forehead. But it didn't fall… didn't give either of them the opportunity to really get at its weak spot. Link couldn't reach it and Dante couldn't get at it under its hands. The monster shook its head and roared again, swiping at the two once more.

"Well that did something! Do it again!" Dante shouted down to the teen. Link looked around the room, trying to take in all the details, trying to be sure he didn't miss anything.

"I don't want to waste arrows if it's just going to cover it's head again!" the hero said, ducking under a rather close swipe from the creature. As he did, his eyes caught on the chains that trailed behind him. He backed off again, getting ready with another arrow.

"Dante! The chains!" he called, the hunter glanced down, noticing the chains that the teen was referring to.

"Got it!" he shouted back, he watched the hero take a steadying breath and loose the arrow. The monster reeled back again, clutching it's forehead, this time Dante leapt off, grabbing the chain and pulling. It tried to take a step and then tumbled, falling, sprawling on the floor, arms falling away from its head. The duo acted then, both hacking the jewel to pieces. The monster roared and then froze, the lava cooling and then shattering, revealing the Goron within. The shadows collected to reveal one of the Fused Shadows

A/N: Alright, that's all I got in me today...

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	29. Down the Mountain

A/N: *sighs* it's been a busy day guys… I'm pretty pooped but the show must go on! So I'm listening to some extra creepy music (for the upcoming Shadowfell part of the D&D campaign that I run) and if that bleeds over into the chapter… uh… I apologize.

Down the Mountain

The Fused Shadow drifted down and Midna popped up from Link's shadow, the magical hand-like appendage appearing from behind her head and grabbing it.

"Well that's one more down…" she said, the hand and the Fused Shadow disappearing, probably into a pocket dimension.

"How many are there?" Dante asked and the imp grinned

"Would you like to know?" she asked with a cackle then disappeared back into the teen's shadow. The half devil was about to give her hell when he heard the rousing of something else in the room. He shifted into a fighting stance, ready for whatever else had decided to drag itself from the depths of this mine. Link put out a hand

"Wait." the teen pointed, the monster had shrunk from a colossal beast into a larger than average Goron, Dante still gripped his sword tighter, waiting for it to rise up and attack. The Goron grunted and put a hand to his head.

"Ooohhh… what happened?" he muttered, not seeming to notice that anyone else was there. So it was possession, the half devil thought, that's rough… He'd dealt with his fair share of possessions and the artifacts that often caused them. He winced as he thought back to the poker game that ended with Lady shooting him.

"You nearly killed us is what happened bud." Dante said instead, placing his sword back against his back. Link shot him a glare but the hunter paid it no mind, he wasn't sure if he cared what this guy thought of them after dealing with his angry ass, plus the entire mine they had fought their way through prior to this. The Goron looked at them then, the greyish stone on top of his head looking very much like a flattop haircut. This got Dante wondering whether these things considered those growths like hair and if they cut them in any way shape or form. He shook the thought from his brain just as the Goron spoke up.

"My apologies, my name is Darbus, I'm the leader of this clan of Gorons. What happened here?"

"You were possessed," Link spoke up then, shooting another glance over his shoulder at Dante, who raised his hands, probably best to leave the diplomacy to the kid "we managed to free you from the possession," he continued "but we have a favor to ask of you."

"Of course, anything in thanks for saving me." Darbus said, managing to get back to his feet.

"The village down the valley, you've cut off contact from them, they would like very much to reestablish that. These are hard times for everyone, we need to all help each other." The teen explained, surprising Dante, who had actually nearly forgotten why they'd climbed into this mountain to begin with. The Goron gave the hero a critical look, taking in the strange clothing, the sword on his back and the bow in his hand.

"It would be my pleasure. We had cut off contact because the mountain was acting up, spewing fire unlike it has for hundreds of years. Of course, I went to check it out, I got down here and then… well I don't remember." He looked to the door and then turned back to the duo.

"I should be getting back to tell my people that I'm okay." he said "Do you want me to guide you back? You made it here but the path through the mines is treacherous on the best of days." Link waved him off

"Go ahead, we'll catch up, I think we both need a minute to breathe." The Goron shrugged his shoulders

"Suit yourself." he said and walked over to the door, giving a mighty grunt and heaving it open, it didn't roll back closed. Dante looked at the teen then.

"You okay?" he asked. Link just shrugged.

"Better than I was, I guess, I'm just worried that the longer we spend away from the kids from, the more likely something will happen to them. You saw, they weren't safe even in the village under Renado's protection. And Ilia… we haven't even found her yet…" Midna appeared at his shoulder then.

"I'm sure she's still around, she's likely more useful as a prisoner than dead." she said. Link took a shaky breath and shook his head, probably trying to keep himself from getting more upset. Dante just patted his back, he'd been there.

"You ready to get the hell out of here?" he asked, looking out the massive door that Darbus had so thoughtfully left open for them. The half devil heard another shaky breath and then

"Yeah, Midna, can you get us out?" The imp grinned and floated a few feet away, appearing to concentrate for a moment before firing something at the ground. There a very familiar portal opened up. The hunter paused.

"That was the kind of portal that brought me here…" he said and then he looked at the imp "Did you bring me here?" he asked, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword. Midna looked at him, startled and backed away slowly.

"What? No, what are you talking about?" she said, any sense of bravado lost. Link looked between the two of them with concern.

"Dante?" he said, the half devil simply leveled the sword with the imp.

"Explain. Now."

A/N: Well that's a good point to end on… so… yeah I'm starving so I'm gonna make dinner.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	30. Return

A/N: Alright, I've finished up my other work and I'm going to finish up this one before starting a new one, so let's just get goin on that shall we?

Disclaimer: I own neither, yup that's right, neither, surprised? Me too.

Return to Kakariko

"Guys…" Link had his hands up in a calming gesture as he looked between Midna and Dante, one of whom looked very surprised and the other one looked angry. Dante let out a growl, gesturing with his sword at the imp who floated back a bit more.

"Talk." The half devil said, his eyes taking on a reddish hue as he did. Midna swallowed and then spoke, slowly as to not tempt the hunter further.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, this portal connects with the area near Kakariko where we fought those shadow beasts before." She said "I don't know how you got here any more than you do. Many of my people can create these portals, though there's only one that goes between worlds that I know of." She looked hopeful and Dante started to relax, his sword dropping and most of the energy falling away from him, leaving a tired man in its place. He sighed and sheathed the sword.

"So you're saying that all of these portals go between places in the same world?" he asked. Midna nodded, the half devil sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. Link took a step forward, still wary that the hunter may snap again.

"So…" he said, squatting down next to the half devil and looking over at him "you came through a portal that looked like that?" he pointed at the portal that Midna had made. Dante nodded

"Yeah, weird squiggly blue lines and everything." the hunter said, eyes still focused on said portal. Link looked at it.

"Midna you can only make these things sometimes can't you?" he asked the imp. Midna nodded

"Correct, only when I have the energy to do so. It's harder inside like this but with the boost from the Fused Shadow I figure it's nice to save you the trek back through this maze of tunnels."

"See?" Link said to the hunter "It's got to be someone more powerful than Midna to have been able to pull you from your world, I'm sure we'll know when we find them." Dante let out a breathy laugh and patted Link's head

"Thanks kid." he said, the hero gave him a small glare as he adjusted his hat back into its proper place. Dante got back to his feet "Let's get out of here shall we?" the teen and the imp nodded, Link gesturing for the hunter to go through the portal first. Dante took a deep breath and stepped inside. There was a brief warping, stretching sensation and when he opened his eyes, he was standing outside Kakariko once more. Well that was one way to get out of the mines… He looked to his right and saw that Link had appeared next to him as well, looking very tired. It was dark, the stars twinkling down from above them, the cooler night air feeling very cold after being inside the sweltering mines for god knows how long. The teen sighed and walked forward toward the village.

"Hey, kid!" Dante called after him, Link looked back over his shoulder "Shouldn't we tell that rock dude that we made it out in one piece? It'll look weird if we never come back out of the mines." The teen sighed and then said

"We can take care of it in the morning, I'm not making that trek back up the mountain again right now."

"Fair enough." Dante said with a shrug. He followed the teen up to Renado's home where the hero knocked politely. There were a few moments of awkward silence and the half devil thought that they were going to have to break in before the door opened and a very tired looking Renado opened the door. He blinked a couple times, not appearing to believe what he was seeing and then ushered the pair inside.

"What happened?!" he whispered, taking in the rather beat up shape of the duo. Link just yawned, the constant fighting of the mines finally catching up with him. Dante himself was feeling it quite a bit himself and had to stifle a yawn as well.

"It's all taken care of, there should be a representative of the Gorons coming down to talk to you sometime here soon." Link said "I'll tell you more tomorrow but right now I just really want to sleep…" Renado smiled warmly

"Of course." he said "Go on, there's space and bedding upstairs for the both of you." Dante nodded and guided Link up the stairs, the poor teen was losing steam and fast. The half devil was fairly certain that he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

-Legends-

Link woke fairly late the next day and was surprised to see that Dante was still sleeping as well. He looked around and saw the handful of small piles of bedding around them and realised that the kids must be sleeping here as well. Renado must have told them not to wake him, for which he was grateful. He stretched and as he did heard Dante start to rouse next to him, the half devil yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"What time is it?" he asked tiredly, Link looked out the window

"Probably somewhere around midday." the hero answered, realizing as he rubbed his sore neck that he'd fallen asleep with his sword still strapped on.

"Hmm…" Dante said stretching himself and wincing as several joints popped back into place. Link slowly got to his feet, his stomach reminding him that he hadn't eaten since at least halfway through the mines.

"I suppose I should go talk to Renado…" he said. Dante looked at him

"Good luck."

A/N: That's all I got right now, I need to watch back through some of the cutscenes of this game… I don't remember a lot of what happens next… ^^;

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	31. Lanaryu Province

A/N: Alrighty guys, here we are again, I've watched up on some more of the cutscenes, which is helpful, 'cause it's been quite a while since I've played through the whole game, I should probably do that again…

Disclaimer: I don't own LoZ, but I especially don't own DMC, especially that one

Lanaryu Province

Dante yawned and stretched, taking his time getting up and cleaning himself up. He didn't feel as grimy as the time that he'd fought a leviathan from the inside, but that was a hard thing to make comparisons to. He'd done what he could with the small basin of water that Renado kept in his home and then wandered outside. Link was standing in front of Renado and a few of the kids. They appeared to be saying something to him, Renado handed him a bag that looked to have some essentials in it and then he and the kids all bowed to the teen who looked visibly uncomfortable by the motion. He walked back over to the hunter at that point, the tips of his ears still red and Dante just raised a brow at him.

"What was all that about?" he asked, Link shook his head.

"Let's just get out of town." the teen mumbled, hurriedly packing everything up onto Epona, Dante sighed at the idea of travelling by horseback again but took the hero's offered hand and hopped up behind him. Link tapped his heels into the horse and she took off at a medium pace, trotting down the road of the valley, the midday sun beating down on them from above.

As they made their way through the gorge the hunter watched the tall stone walls slowly give way to bright fields and sparse trees. When they had been riding for nearly an hour Dante leaned back and asked

"So what was up with all that hero worship back in town?" Link looked back over his shoulder at the question and sighed

"You know how the spirit referred to me as the "Hero chosen by the Goddesses?" the teen said, his voice was soft, and though he couldn't see his face, Dante was sure that the kid was red.

"Sure." the hunter shrugged. Link sighed, Epona slowing before he answered again.

"So… I'm not the first. There have been other… heroes, in the past. A long time ago there was one who saved the land before disaster could strike and long before that one who saved the land from a wind sorcerer. There's many stories like this and… well everyone knows them, I loved hearing them as a kid, so I guess… people kind of see the old Hero in me." The teen fell quiet then, staring pointedly forward into the distance. Dante smiled and patted the kid's shoulder, who looked back, surprised.

"It's hard to live up to a legend huh?" the half devil said. Link pulled back on the reins so that he could completely turn to actually see the other man. The half devil could feel Midna's gaze from Link's shadow as well. He laughed a little at the looks that he was receiving.

"You act like you're the only one who has to live up to something greater than yourself. My brother and I dealt with that growing up too. Still do sometimes actually. You see, in my world, my father was the one who sealed the demon world off from the human one, a long, long time ago. Humans expected us to live up to our father's legacy and demons cursed us for our heritage. You'll learn to make your own legend, trust me. It's taken a while but I'm better known as Dante now than just "The Son of Sparda." it was quiet for a moment after his short story and Dante looked up only to see the teen give him a grin.

"Thanks Dante." Link said, sliding down from Epona to give the horse a break.

"Don't sweat it kid."

-Legends-

The trip took the pair nearly three weeks to make their way across the large field that bisected much of the land, they passed through a couple small villages, slightly larger than the one that the teen hailed from but they never stayed, they were only there long enough to pick up fresh supplies and then they were on their way again. They usually made camp for the night, a bright fire crackling between them and one of the three keeping watch and occasionally dispatching a handful of Bokoblins when the need arose. Dante had gotten a kick out of watching Link trying to lift Rebellion one evening, and the sword had sparked her own amusement in his mind. This had led to the half devil explaining his own relationship with living weapons and Midna adding her own anecdotes, the trio coming to a better understanding of the Fused Shadows that they were seeking, as Midna had explained, they were ancient weapons of her people, she'd never used them herself. Now it was getting to be late evening and Dante had the reins, Link taking a break and was riding behind the hunter. Up on the horizon the line of the Twilight had taken shape, they would probably make it there by late tomorrow or early the following day. Dante felt the teen jerk as he started to fall in his sleep; he shook his head and slowed Epona down to a stop, gently shaking the hero awake behind him. Link mumbled and shuffled before blinking blearily.

"Come on, you're about to fall off the horse, let's make camp here." he said, getting down and helping the kid down after him. Link looked up and saw the darkness of the Twilight up ahead of them and froze, staring intently at it.

"Kid?" Dante said, starting to get a little bit concerned. Link took a deep breath and then looked at the half devil with piercing blue eyes.

"Your transformation… Does it hurt?" he asked. Dante raised a brow

"Not really, it's so quick that I hardly notice it anymore." he paused, taking in the fearful expression on the teen "Yours does doesn't it?" Link paused before muttering

"Yeah. Just… forget it." He turned away and started gathering scraps of wood for the campfire. Dante sighed, he'd get the kid to talk about it eventually, today apparently wasn't going to be that day…

As soon as the fire was crackling, Link curled up and fell asleep promptly, Midna looked after him and then over Dante.

"Do you want first watch?" she asked, Dante shrugged

"I'm plenty awake, go ahead and rest." the half devil said, looking past the fire out into the distance. Midna looked down at the teen who was already fast asleep.

"I was there you know. The first time he was pulled into the Twilight." she said softly, hovering near the teen's head, Dante looked over at her. "I saw my own people twisted into monsters… I was…" she paused, shook her head then continued "It was hard to watch all the same, his screams…" The half devil remembered his own coming to power, Rebellion piercing straight through bone and muscle.

"The road to power isn't an easy one." he said softly, meeting Midna's luminous eyes "Get some rest. I've got the watch."

Link was yanked out of sleep by the sound of a long, sad howl, it was a she wolf, looking for her pack. He tried to close his eyes again but he heard the response, much closer than the first. He sat up, looking into the forest, searching out the culprits. He saw Dante out of his peripheral, the hunter had one of his firearms on his lap, ready at a moments notice for a fight. The teen stiffened at the sight of the three lean wolves stalked slowly from the trees. He could hear Dante slowly click something on his firearm though the hunter didn't move beyond that. Link sat up taller, meeting challenge in the eyes of the alpha pair who stared him down, side by side. She snuck up, sniffing at his bedding, a growl leapt unbidden from his throat. The she-wolf leapt back with a quick snarl and a snort, the pack stalking around the camp after her. She watched for a second after the rest disappeared into the trees before following her pack. Link blinked after them, his heart slowing back to a normal pace.

"Well, that was something." The teen jolted at the sound of Dante's voice.

"Yeah…" Link said, looking down at his hands, almost expecting to see paws and claws rather than fingers.

"Kid?" The hero ignored the other man's probing and lay back down, he didn't want to talk about it…

He didn't feel much like talking to anyone the next day either, which seemed to frustrate the hunter greatly, Midna was used to the teen occasionally getting moody and paid it no mind, trying to fill the gap in conversation with the half devil. They reached the Twilight right around dinner time and Link marched right up to it, Dante trotting after and Midna floating right up to him.

"Are you sure you want to do this now?" she asked, Link looked at her

"Yes. Let's get it over with." he said. Midna floated back through the barrier, a moment later he and Dante were scooped up and yanked through. As they got back to their feet in the Twilight he heard the half devil's voice for a moment

"Kid you can't keep running-" then the only thing he could hear was the loud thuds of his own heart and the internal cracking and snapping as his body rearranged itself.

-Legends-

Dante was surprised that Link gave little more than a short yelp and a groan as the transformation wracked his body. It wasn't any easier to watch this time than it had been last time, even if he was anticipating it this time. His own transformation flickered over his skin like lightning and he knelt down to the teen who shook his head as the change finished, rising to his feet, Midna appearing off to the side. She didn't plop herself down on the wolf like she had last time, instead she hovered hesitantly, watching the teen as his breathing settled back into a somewhat normal rhythm.

"Kid?" Dante asked, the wolf turned to face him. It was strange, the teen's eyes were nearly the same as a wolf as they were when he was human, fierce but strangely sad at the same time. The half devil took a deep breath. "I know you don't want to talk about this, and frankly, I don't blame you but, you do know that when you change back, we're gonna have a chat, okay?" Those piercing blue eyes didn't change but the teen gave something of a huff, the hunter looked to Midna for a translation, but the imp just shrugged. Link lowered his nose to the ground and then looked ahead and started trotting off. Dante gave and exasperated huff and looked to the imp again, who was watching after the canine with a mix of sadness and regret.

"Teenagers, am I right?" the half devil asked, trying to make light of the situation. Midna looked over at him and gave the barest of a grin.

"No kidding." she said, shaking her head and then plopped down on his shoulder.

"Oi." Dante looked at her and she shrugged

"Hey, my mount's run off and I can't fly everywhere." Dante rolled his eyes but started forward after the teen, allowing her to stay for the time being.

"Why not?" he asked as he jogged, trying to catch up with the wolf who didn't even seem concerned with whether or not the pair was following him. He appeared focused on the mission at hand. Midna sighed, watching his disappearing tail.

"It takes energy, something that I don't have an unlimited supply of, it's easier in the Twilight like this, but I'm not perfect, it's probably very similar to why you don't do this," she gestured to Dante's demonic form "all the time when you're not forced to." the half devil nodded, that made sense. As he jogged ahead he saw Link, stopped and looking ahead in the distance to a building. Midna let out a small laugh

"Looks familiar, doesn't it?"

A/N: Okay, honestly, I'm just going to add this onto the end of last chapter, I'm gonna read and play a game with my boyfriend, try and shake off this shitty day.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	32. Fireside Chat

A/N: Yeah, I don't have much to say today.

Disclaimer: I still, still don't own either of these thing.

Guest: I'm glad you like it so far, I've found that sometimes it's the most fun to mix fandoms that one wouldn't think go together. I'm also having fun writing "Uncle Dante" he's kinda the best. Zant should be coming up soon... I hope. Thanks for the review!

Fireside Chat

The half devil was glad that it took quite a lot to wear him out as he jogged after the wolf who seemed hot to trot to reach the castle that they could both see in the distance. Though it worried him how the kid seemed to be just running from his issues rather than facing and talking about them. It was a hard thing to see. He could tell that Midna was worried too, even if she didn't say anything about it. The trio was on the verge of reaching town, and the half devil had just caught up to the Hero, when those familiar glowing walls appeared around them and the monsters fell from the sky once more. Midna darted over to the teen to help him out and Dante quickly dispatched the first monster that had tried to back away from the other two as to keep them alive. Within moments they had killed off the monsters and the portal above them had turned from red to blue. Dante watched for a moment and then looked back to the teen who was panting lightly.

"Link." he said and the wolf's piercing eyes met his own. "Relax, don't push yourself into the ground, that's just how you get yourself hurt." he'd seen this with Lady, and even with himself when he got too deep into the fight, he'd just want to keep going and going. The teen growled but had to pause that even to pant. The hunter smiled gently.

"See, you're going to drive yourself into the ground if you keep going." The wolf looked away but did lay down

"You want to camp here?" the question was directed at Link but Midna answered.

"Here's a good of a spot as any, we need to rest before we keep going, otherwise, Dante's right, one of us will get hurt." Link just placed his head between his paws, eyes closing and breathing evening out almost immediately. Dante just shook his head and looked to the imp who was resting against the wolf's furry side.

"I suppose this leaves me to go collect firewood, huh?" he said, the imp laughed a little.

"Yeah, I guess so, since I can't exactly carry a lot of it."

-Legends-

A short while later and they all were huddled around a small campfire, Midna warming her tiny hands near the flame. Link had curled almost instinctively around her and the half devil was more than a little jealous of the fur coat that the teen currently had. Midna patted the spot behind the Hero's ear absently.

"You're worried about him aren't you?" Dante asked, the imp looked up to him, slightly surprised by the sudden voice.

"Aren't you?" she asked, the half devil sighed and looked to the castle that rose in the distance.

"A bit. But I can't say that this doesn't surprise me. He's a stubborn kid, not to mention that he's a teenage guy, he probably doesn't like relying on others to trust or talk to and now he's been thrust into something much bigger than himself and doesn't know what to do or who to look to and he's been told that he's the only one who can solve this problem… what would you do if you were him?" the imp looked back to the wolf curled around her with a mix of worry and pity.

"I just wish there was something that I could do to help him, beyond what I've done already." she said, stroking the point behind his ear again. The canine sighed in his sleep, his tail curling tighter to his body. Dante threw another log onto the fire and scooted closer to it, risking lighting the ends of his boots.

"Give him some time to cool off but… don't be afraid to push him a little, talking about it will help." the half devil said, he adjusted and leaned back onto his arms. Normally he'd bunch his coat up to sleep on but it was chilly in this area of the Twilight and he prefered the warmth to the comfort of his head in his sleep. He looked back to the imp

"It's your turn for first watch." he said as he closed his eyes. Midna nodded and settled in for the long haul.

She watched as the hunter quickly settled into sleep, she knew that he was a very light sleeper, she wondered what he'd been through in his life to develop that habit of being ready to fight within a seconds' notice. She looked to the wolf behind her; probably something similar to what Link was going through now. Her own reflexes had improved and she always felt like she was on edge. Having been a princess in the Twilight, she was familiar with always being on the lookout but this was something different… Though her own perceptiveness to people's' tendency for betrayal hadn't tipped her off to when Zant had done that very thing to her mother… Her mother had just named her successor. She hadn't told the boys of her heritage, only of the weapons that they were trying to collect. It hadn't been her intention to tell them about the Fused Shadow, but now that she had she felt relieved. Perhaps it would be in her best interest to tell them of her stolen title as well.

A/N: I know this is a smidge short but… I'm about to go run… in the rain :( but pokestops man, gotta get 'em somehow!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	33. Castle Town

A/N: Alright so this chapter's gonna be a bit longer since I skipped out last week, I don't really have any good excuses… so I'm making up for it this week. Anyway, let's get started.

Disclaimer: I do not own

Castle Town

The next morning the small group gathered their few things and made their way across the bridge into the town. It was the largest that Dante had seen so far in this world and so he asked the wolf where they were. Link gave a small whine and the half devil raised a brow at the imp who sighed at having to play translator for the duo.

"He said that it's the capital of Hyrule, it's called Castle Town." she said, Dante snorted.

"That's a real creative name you guys got there. Castle Town? Really?" As they entered the town through the open gate, Link looked from side to side appearing to notice something that the hunter couldn't.

"What is it?" he asked but the teen didn't respond. Dante huffed and looked around them once more, not sure what the kid was seeing right now that was shocking him into silence.

Link, on the other hand, felt his heart sinking in his chest. There were so many souls… too many of them were trapped here, how on earth would he be able to save them all…? That was the worst part, is knowing that they were all relying on him to save them… How was he ever going to live up to their expectations? Could he? He shook his head when a somewhat familiar smell hit hit nose, even in her spirit form he could recognize Ilia. He wandered after the smell, ignoring the calls of both Dante and Midna behind him, he needed to find his friend, even if he couldn't tell her that it was going to be okay right now... The trail led him through the winding alleys of Castle Town and a couple weeks ago he would've been thrilled to be able to experience this but now he barely even glanced up at the buildings, cast in shadow as they were from the Twilight. He turned one final corner, descended some steps and wandered through the open door of the tavern. Inside he could see the spiritual outlines of two people, no, three. Ilia stood next to a very… well endowed woman and appeared to be talking to her, both of them were looking at a very young Zora boy who was laying on some crates. He perked his ears to listen, and caught Ilia saying.

"This boy, can't you save him?!"

"All right little lady, calm down, okay? I just now sent for the doctor." the woman responded. Dante burst in behind him and Link growled over his shoulder at the half devil, turning his attention back to the trio in front of him.

"But this is strange," the woman was saying "a child of the Zoras… I wonder if this is at all related to the incident that the soldiers were talking about in back." Midna giggled at him, breaking his concentration on the spirits in front of him.

"Isn't this a touching reunion, a girl and her wolf." she tugged his ear playfully. Link lifted a lip and snarled at her, he was not here to be patronized! Midna sighed

"Link you know they can't see you right?" she said gently. Dante stood in the back, completely oblivious to the spirits in front of him. He looked to the imp for clarification.

"Who is it?" He asked. Midna sighed.

"Some girl from his village." she said and then paused, as though receiving an answer from the teen. "Sorry, he says her name is Ilia, that she's a friend." Midna corrected. Dante nudged the wolf with his knee.

"Is she a friend, or a _friend_?" he teased. The teen looked up at him and huffed before walking to the back of the bar, appearing to follow more spirits that the half devil couldn't see.

Link focused his senses on the back of the tavern, the shapes of a handful of soldiers coming into focus, even as the rest of the world around him darkened. One of them, likely the captain, appeared to be addressing the others.

"We've had a ton of complaints from citizens who can't send prayers to the spring of Lake Hylia. Go there and investigate why! The location is the one I showed you on the map earlier! Got it?!" Every command sounded more like a shout to the wolf's sensitive hearing, though the teen was surprised to see the soldiers shake their heads… were they deaf or just dumb…? The captain seemed baffled as well "What?! Study it and know it well!" he barked. The men scrambled to comply, some of them passing right through the wolf to inspect the map at the table. When they had passed and left the bar, Link lifted his forepaws onto the table to look at the map. It was a map of Hyrule, he had a couple, similar ones at home, though this one had a point on lake Hylia marked with a pin, that had to be the spirit pool. Dante wandered over from where he was inspecting the bottles behind the bar and looked over the map as well.

"Is this the land we're in?" he asked, glancing over the strange mountains and lakes that looked nothing like the world that he came from. Link nodded as best his canine form would allow. Dante 'hmmed' and then pointed to the pinned spot.

"This where we're headed." Link nodded again, thankful when Midna piped up in his support.

"The soldiers were talking of trouble there, we figured that it'd be best to head there and see what's up. He'll need to talk to the spirit anyway." She ruffled Link's ears and the wolf glared at her in response.

"Well shall we then?" the half devil gestured to the door and the trio swiftly left.

Thankfully, Midna was able to pull out the map that she and Link had been using thus far in their journey, as they were outside of the lands that Link had travelled when he was younger. They made good time and by evening they were coming up on a bridge. Midna was inspecting the map and talking to Dante, occasionally fielding remarks from Link, as they made their way forward.

"I figure if we make it to the path down to the lake, that's probably a good point to rest, there'll be plenty of cover there." she said as Link continued onto the bridge. Dante paused, something struck him as off about this bridge… he knelt and swiped a claw across the stones, only to have it come away dark and oily… He looked up and was about to say something to the teen when several arrows pierced through his wings and struck the gas that coated the bridge, the stones erupting into flames.

"Run!" the hunter managed as he got to his feet, diving through the rest of the fire and trying to beat the remaining flames off of his body. Link was already booking it for the other end when that side burst into flames as well. Dante swore and scooped up the wolf, jumping over the edge, torn wings beating against air. He wasn't able to manage much better than a controlled fall as the wind worsened the holes in the leathery membranes of his wings, his healing factor trying desperately to keep up. They hit the water with a rather large splash and all three paddled over to the edge, Dante drooping on the shore to finish healing; he looked over at Link with a flat expression.

"What is it with you and walking into things that explode?" the wolf just whined at him, he looked to Midna for translation.

"He's just glad there was a lake down here to break our fall." she said, wringing her hair out. Link climbed ashore and shook himself out, much to both the hunter and the imp's displeasure. Dante flicked the water off as best he could and shivered lightly, this part of the Twilight wasn't overly warm, especially not for a dip in the lake.

"Are you going to be okay?" Midna asked, looking the half devil up and down. He looked back to her.

"I'm fine, the wind just didn't help those arrow holes." he said with a small grin. She didn't look convinced but didn't argue with him about it. He finally paused to look around the area they had dropped into, the lake was smaller than on the map and at first Dante was going to chalk it up to the relative time period that he was in, until he noticed the water marks on the shore, it used to be a lot higher.

"The water level's awfully low…" he commented, the wolf looked around, seeming to take notice of the same thing. He then wandered off to a random point and the half devil assumed that the teen had seen some spirits that he could not.

Link had, in fact, noticed some, though they were Zora's, and other than the kid who'd been with Ilia, he'd never seen before. This one was inspecting the water level with a concerned look on his face.

"The drop in water has been faster than predicted… At this rate, Lake Hylia will dry up. It's a race against time…" he shook his head, looking dejected. The teen looked over to the other two who were standing nearby.

"We've had absolutely no water flowing from upstream…" one of them said "There's no mistaking it. Something must have happened at the water's source in our home…"

"Yet how are we to return upstream to our home?" the other responded "With the way things are now, we can't even walk back there…" Link looked in the direction that they were facing, noticing the small outlet that must let water out normally. He wondered what could be stopping up the water, and if they couldn't travel back up on foot that must mean that there was something truly stopping the way… He huffed and felt Midna pat his side.

"C'mon, I think Dante's waiting for us, let's go check out that funny looking house, maybe we can take shelter there for the night." the wolf nodded vaguely and wandered over to the half devil, unsurprised to see a spirit sitting nearly on top of the hunter. For one who couldn't see them, Dante was awfully good at picking out spirits.

"Hey kid," Dante started, but Link was too busy watching the spirit in front of him. It was a funny looking man, in a rather silly outfit that quite matched the silly looking house.

"Hurrrmm… I'm too old for this…" the man was saying, shaking his head "Fyer and Falbi's Watertop Land of Fantastication… It's our grand reopening at our new lake-bottom location… Whoopity doo…" the man sighed and looked at the low water levels "Yeah, some lake this is, don't most lakes have more… oh I don't know, water?" he grumbled a bit more, fiddling with the contraption that sat outside the house. "I wonder if those Zoras did something upriver to halt the water flow…" he glanced at the cave then "Though it could just as easily be a curse from the spirit up there…"

"Kid," Dante started again. Link let out a low growl and the half devil shut up with a muttered "fine, didn't want to talk to you anyway." The spirit's eyes had gone wide as he noticed a monster further along on the small spits of land that stuck out of the water. The spirit vanished into the house and the door locked. Link sighed and then looked back to the hole where the water should be pouring out and then looked at Dante curiously.

"What?"

A/N: Alright, that's the best I got right now, I'm behind and posting this chapter today, so I gotta get started on the next one!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	34. Lake Hylia

A/N: Okay, so I'm behind and am just getting around to typing this chapter at like, 8:00 pm… oops, it's okay, I'm catching up, slowly but surely… Anyway, I'm super duper stoked cause they announced DMC5 at E3! *slight squee* I mean, holy hell! Nero what happened to you?! My coworker and I were theorizing about it at work today :3 I really hope it doesn't throw off my whole thing that I'm trying to write up with the DMC timeline but I'll adapt and retcon if I need to, ooh, I'm so excited, at least I have Vampyr to tide me over for a bit until then… speaking of which, I'm gonna write this up so I can play more of that.

Disclaimer: no own.

Lake Hylia

"Link wants to know if you can fly us upstream to the Zora domain." Midna translated for the canine who just nodded solemnly. Dante looked at the distance that he'd have to take them and realized he could only see part way up the stream and turned back to the imp

"How far is it?" he asked, she looked at Link who gave the best wolf approximation of a shrug. The half devil sighed

"Maybe if I had my power stones here but I left them with Nero, he needed them more than I did." Dante said, remembering how useful that flying one had been when fighting a possessed helicopter. Good god did he lead a strange life… Link simply tilted his head, not following what the hunter was going on about.

"The answers probably not, and I don't want to drop you and kill the 'chosen hero' by accident just because I couldn't haul his heavy ass." the teen growled at him and Midna was about to translate and Dante just laughed

"I think I got the gist of that one. Do you want me to bust the door down of this house so we have someplace warm to sleep?" he asked, gesturing to the funny house behind them. Link shook his head.

"There's a spirit who's hiding from the monsters in there." Midna explained. Dante raised the equivalent of a brow in his demonic form.

"Does he mean us?" he asked and the imp shook her head

"They can't see us," she pointed to the monster a few islands away "but they can see them." the monster had grabbed one of the reeds and was blowing into it, making a strange sort of music. Dante hmmed, so some of the monsters liked music… his thought trailed off when an enormous, monstrous bird flapped down from the sky and the monster hopped on the saddle that was placed on the beast's back. Link snarled and took off toward the monster. Dante shook his head, swearing under his breath and followed suit. He looked at the monster in the beast's saddle and took to the sky, slashing a devastating blow to it with Rebellion. Link pounced as it hit the ground, not even allowing it time to stir as he closed his teeth around its throat, wrenching his head for good measure. The beast whirled on Dante but before he could take it down, Midna floated up to it, her hand hair-thing grabbing the reins as she spoke to it in a language that neither Dante nor Link could understand. A moment later the bird settled and the imp grinned down at them.

"I think I found our ride upriver." she said. Dante laughed

"Great, we'll be travelling in style!" he joked. The bird swooped and snagged the hero, who didn't look at all pleased by their mode of transportation but didn't squirm as Midna directed the beast to the mouth of the cave that lead upriver. Dante darted ahead of the pair, being the smaller and more maneuverable of them. As they started up the cave he saw a handful of monsters, though a few shots from Ebony and Ivory quickly took care of that. One of them escaped his attention just long enough to fire off an explosive arrow to one of the rocks overhead, causing it to crumble and fall and for Midna to swerve the bird out of the way.

"Watch it!" she shouted.

"Sorry! Doing the best I can!" the half devil called back, firing several times at the next few monsters that he could see. "Not my fault you picked literally the largest thing you could to try and bring through here." he could practically _feel_ the glare directed his way. Thankfully they could see the exit and swiftly broke out into the Twilight beyond. The bird quickly dropped Link at the nearest spit of land and flew off.

"Yeah thanks to you too!" the hunter yelled after it, he looked back to the teen who was shaking his fur out and trying to get rid of the feeling of grimy claws on his shoulders. There was another house up here, more normal looking than the one down on the lake. A spirit sat outside this one as well. Link squinted and she came into focus, reminding him of the shopkeeper who sold lantern oil in Farron Woods.

"So… can we spend the night in this house or is there a spirit hiding in this one too?" Dante asked, he was getting tired after hiking for miles, nearly getting burned alive, cliff diving and flying up a tight ass crevice to get back up the river. It wasn't the most exhausting day that he'd had, that title definitely went to the Temen-Ni-Gru, but this ranked on the top twenty, that was for sure. Link looked at Midna, who then conveyed his thoughts.

"He says there just a shopkeeper there, she looks tough enough to handle some ghosts borrowing her bed." the imp translated.

"Fantastic." Dante sighed marching ahead, fully okay to freak this poor shopkeeper out if it meant that he got to sleep on a bed in a warm house rather on the cold hard ground.

A/N: Alright, I really want to make dinner so I'm gonna wrap it up!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	35. Zora's Domain

A/N: Alright, I'm trying to work my way through some more of the game storyline, get to more of the stuff that it'll be exciting. Anywho I should get going with this, that way tonight I might have some time to play Vampyr. Good god is that game exciting :3 the balance between keeping an area healthy and killing someone so you can level up… it's a fun balance to try and keep.

Disclaimer: iie

Zora's Domain

Dante woke in the early morning, at least it felt like early morning, it was hard to say with the constant overhand of the Twilight. Link was still snoozing, though fitfully; he twitched and growled in his sleep and Midna was hovering above him, looking worried. The half devil yawned and stretched, scratching the back of his head as he stood, there was a pop in his back somewhere as he stretched his wings out, cramped from being slept on. That was something that he wasn't used to, sleeping in his devil trigger, he hadn't anticipated how obnoxious it would be. He looked to the wolf again, who was still sprawled on his side, paws twitching as though he were running in his sleep.

"How long have you been awake?" he whispered to Midna, who looked over her shoulder at him and then back to the teen.

"Since he started getting restless, so perhaps an hour." she responded.

"Should we wake him?" the hunter asked, kneeling down so he was closer to the hero. Midna shrugged

"It's supposedly bad luck to wake one who's in the midst of dreams." she said, Dante looked at her with a brow raised

"Well it isn't where I'm from." he said and shook the teen's shoulder. The wolf jolted, on his feet in a second and fangs bared to the perceived threat. Dante just held his hands up, not moving as the teen regained consciousness. Link sighed heavily and shook his fur out and then looked to the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, we better get going. First though, I'm sure that the shopkeeper won't mind us taking something small to eat." Dante said, nodding toward the kitchen. Midna just shrugged

"I'm not going to complain about food that isn't stale." she said "Besides, the shopkeep never came back inside last night, said something about a bad feeling."

"I really wish I could see these spirits." the half devil sighed. Link made a strange sort of huffing sound and Dante looked at him curiously and then to Midna who just shrugged.

"Sometimes a noise is just a noise." she said, accepting the piece of bread that Dante was now handing her as he raided the poor shopkeep's kitchen. He dug around a bit and looked back to the wolf who was waiting patiently on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I don't think she's got anything for puppies." the half devil joked. Link gave a small growl and then sighed, walking to the door and looking back to the hunter. Dante shook his head

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, is that all I am to you? A pair of hands and opposable thumbs?" he asked, the hero gave a quick bark and darted out as soon as the door was open. The half devil sighed, swallowing the handful of dried berries that he'd pilfered and jogged after the canine.

It took a couple hours to come upon the Zora's domain and Dante froze when they rounded the bend and came into a large clearing, filled with a frozen lake. The waterfall that was supposed to lead into it was frozen as well.

"I knew it was getting colder but I didn't expect the whole waterfall to be frozen…" Midna said from Link's back, the teen seemed surprised to see the icy wall before them as well, though it was harder to tell on the wolfish face. He was looking around curiously, nose in the air.

"No kidding…" Dante said softly, it felt wrong to shout here, the place had a feeling of a grave. He looked to the teen. "What'dya smell kid?" Midna looked at the hunter

"There's no spirits here… if this is the domain of the Zora's, don't you think we'd see some?" she responded, Dante just nodded and then pointed up the waterfall

"I can see some structures up there, let's go and maybe there'll be some spirits up there." he said.

The trio made their way up to the top of frozen waterfall slowly and carefully and peeking around the corner they were faced with another trio of shadowbeasts. Before they were noticed the half devil fired off his gun, downing one of them. He looked to Link and they both made quick, simultaneous work of the other two. Dante shook the blood from Rebellion and looked to the teen.

"Nice work." he said but the wolf wasn't paying attention, instead the hero had wandered forward and was looking around the beautifully designed cavern before looking down below and stopping. Midna gave pause as well.

"What is it?" Dante asked, peering down into the ice at their feet. He couldn't see anything clearly.

"The Zoras… we found them…" the imp said quietly. The half devil looked down again and felt his heart sink. He couldn't see the spirits, but it was clear what had happened…

A/N: Alrighty, I know that's a very sad place to leave it, and that this chapter's on the shorter side but I've got to get going on some other things, so!

Until next time,

-Winged Element


	36. Fire and Ice

A/N: And moving right along with all the stuff I need to take care of today. I'm hoping to be able to play a game tonight, whether it be more Vampyr or Dark Souls 3 I'm not sure yet. Either way, I'm gonna get started on this chapter!

Disclaimer: Newp

Fire and Ice

Dante swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat, this was a lot to get around, how many of them were stuck down there…? How many innocent lives had been taken…? He looked to Midna

"How…" he paused for a moment "how many of them are there down there?" Midna looked at him and then back to the ice at their feet and glanced around, appearing to count.

"Roughly two dozen…" she said, she worried her lip, she didn't like this any more than the half devil did, who would do such a thing… Well, she knew the answer to that question, but she was more shocked that her own people _would_ do such a thing rather than that they _could_. Link had lay down on the ice, lost in his own thoughts, probably just as dark and gloomy as her own.

"What now…" Dante said, looking down at the ice, he couldn't see the bodies but it wasn't hard to imagine them, trapped, frozen solid. "There's an entire town's worth of people gone…" Midna looked up at him and then paused, an idea slowly sparking in her mind.

"Not necessarily…" she said "The Zora's are an aquatic people."

"Fish people?" the hunter didn't look convinced but he had seen giant rock people already, what were some fish people at this point?

"Yes, not to mention as spirits it's harder for harm to come to them. They can likely still be saved but we should still act fast." she said. Link perked up at this, they could save them? His tail slowly began to beat against the ice, he would do what he could. He looked down at the ice, he was pretty sure that there was no way that he'd be able to dig through this, it was frozen solid. Dante was also inspecting the frozen floor.

"I'm not sure what you're thinking but I don't think that we can just dig them out…" he said, Midna paused, considering.

"No, that won't work but I think if we had something big enough and hot enough it would be able to melt through the toughest of the ice and we might be able to break the rest of them out." she said, the hunter leaned back against the wall with a sigh.

"Okay, and where are we going to get something big and hot like that?" he asked. They all sat in silence for a few minutes, pondering. Link started barking then, suddenly and Dante jumped at the sound after the eerie silence.

"What?" he asked, Link barked again, sounding impatient. Midna listened and translated.

"He said that he has an idea." she said "He said that we should head back to Death Mountain." Dante wanted to facepalm, of course, the freaking volcano. Then he paused.

"Wait, how are we going to get there, I thought we couldn't walk out of the Twilight, also, how are we going to transport lava or rocks or whatever, here before they cool?" he asked, Midna gave a very impish grin then, a single fang peeking out as she did.

"We teleport." she said "I can get you out of the Twilight with very little difficulty, though both of you will remain stuck in this form until the Twilight here is lifted. Dante sighed and pushed away from the wall.

"Alright, then let's go." the half devil said, standing next to the other two. Midna smirked again and then there was the spinning in his head that indicated teleportation.

-Legends-

Dante took a couple stumbling steps as they exited out of the teleportation to Death Mountain. He put a hand on the wall of the canyon and took a very large breath.

"I'm never going to get used to that and it's never going to get better." he muttered before standing upright.

"Don't like teleporting?" Midna asked with a giggle, it was nice to see the hunter so out of wack, it made him seem more… human? Dante looked over at her with a cranky expression.

"No." he said "It was never something I got the hang of and Vergil held it over me when we were kids." he grumbled. Link had a wolfish grin and Dante gave him a gentle shove.

"I can't understand you but I can tell you're laughing at me." the hunter said "C'mon, let's get what we came for and get out, I don't need to be freaking people out like this." he gestured to his demonic form. Link gave a bark of approval and darted forward and circling around a huge rock, its surface glowing dully in the heat. Midna floated up and held a hand up to the air near the rock and nodded.

"This should work." she said. She took a deep breath and then energy sparked from her finger to the stone, crackling over its surface. She backed up, eyes closed, seeming to strain against the weight of the stone before giving a yell and flinging her arms up in the air, the stone rising with them. The stone started to disintegrate into the small black flakes that the half devil had seen before when they had teleported. He steeled himself against the feeling and then between one breath and the next they were back in the cave, the massive rock crashing down into the ice, breaking and melting it with an explosion of steam. The force cracked the ice holding back the waterfall and the water burst forth violently. Dante had grabbed Link and yanked him out of the water before anything could happen to the canine. Midna drifted down to the ground and settled on the floor, panting.

"Well I'd say that worked about as well as could be expected."

A/N: Alright, that's a wrap!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	37. Ghosts

A/N: I'm super stoked cause Anime Midwest is this week and I've got my new Zero Suit Samus cosplay ready to go. New cosplay's sweet, also with the announcement of DMC5 I'm sure that my Trish cosplay will go over really well

Disclaimer: Still don't

Ghosts

"Who know something so dangerous would come in handy?" Midna giggled from the side, Dante just huffed at her and gently placed Link back on his feet. The wolf promptly shook his fur out and looked around at the side walkways that decorated the room. Midna smiled tiredly from the other side where she sat.

"The spirits," she explained "they're already moving and getting out of the water." the half devil felt the breath that he didn't know he was holding go out of his lungs. She heaved herself to her feet, not floating but actually standing, breathing heavily. The two teleports in a row clearly took a lot of energy. "Now we can finally go see the spirit of this land. The water flow should be filling the shrine again." she said, wobbling a little. Dante crossed the pathway and knelt down, putting a hand to her back.

"Are you sure that you'll be okay? We can wait a little while before we take on meeting a spirit." the half devil swore he could see her eyes drooping.

"No… I'm fine…" she said, slumping as she spoke, falling back into the hunter's hand. Link whined faintly at her, pushing his nose forward. Dante pushed him back gently and took the imp up into his arms.

"She's fine, she just needs to rest, I've got her." he assured the teen, who looked at him, clearly worried. "C'mon, let's go outside, we can start making our way to this shrine." he had just turned to leave when there was a voice behind him

"Wait." he and Link both turned, and there, floating above the water, was a woman. She was hard to make out and Dante had to squint in order to really see her at all but she was there, floating and looking… rather fish-like. She must be one of these Zoras, the hunter thought.

"Please," she continued "you must allow me to thank you for revitalizing both my people and this spring, which is the water source for all the lands of Hyrule. In life, I was the elder of this Zora village and the queen of my people. I was called Rutela." she explained. Dante looked to Link and mouthed 'was…?' But the teen wasn't paying attention, instead the hero was walking calmly forward.

"Wait, don't just approach freaky ghosts." Dante hissed, reaching out after the teen. The ghost didn't acknowledge his comment, which didn't make the half devil feel any better about the situation

"The dark ones…" she said "They raided this village and, as a message to my people, executed me before them." Dante felt his heart sink, even if she was playing them, it was terrible knowing that this spreading darkness was the reason she was no longer amongst the living. "Young man…" she said, addressing Link "You who take the form of a proud beast… I have something to ask of you… When the dark ones descended upon our village, I sent my young one, Ralis, to Hyrule Castle to inform Princess Zelda of our fate. But… I fear danger followed him from this doomed place. I feel it. His presence grows fainter to me over time… But my time in this world has passed, and though I would give it gladly, I no longer have a life to risk in his rescue. Please, would you save my dearest, Prince Ralis? If you do this for me, I will bestow upon you the protection of water. This power will grant you the ability to swim and respire in very deep water as if you were a Zora. Please… save my son…" she faded away then, as if she no longer possessed the strength to remain in the mortal realm. Dante just stared after her and then turned to the teen.

"I don't think she could see me." he said, Link just gave him a flat look. Dante sighed "Look, I don't want to trust creepy floating ghost-fish ladies but she seemed rather genuine, also being able to breathe underwater sounds like it could help you out in the future." the hunter shifted Midna from one shoulder to the other. Link just tilted his head and the half devil sighed "I have no idea what you're saying right now…" having the imp out of commission was turning out to be worse than he thought it would be.

"Well," he started again "we can't exactly leave the Twilight until this one wakes up," he gestured to Midna "so… let's go talk to the Spirit that you guys were trying to get to originally?" the half devil didn't wait for a response, but started toward the mouth of the cave, thankfully Link followed after him, paws splashing in the shallow water. Once they reached the mouth the water was rushing violently over the edge of the cliff as rain pound down on them from above. Dante peered over the edge, sighed at the frothy water below and scooped the teen up under one arm. Link struggled until Dante leapt over the cliff face, spreading his wings to control their descent. They came down heavy on the edge of the lake, Dante felt his claws sink into the mud and Midna started in his arms. She pushed off his shoulder, looking around with bleary eyes.

"What happened?" she said, floating away from the half devil.

"Not much, just a long-winded conversation with a ghost-fish lady." Dante explained. Midna shook her head, like she didn't believe what he'd said.

"What?"

A/N: Thought that that would be a pretty good ending point

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	38. Spirit of Lanaryu

A/N: Ugh… I am so sleepy right now… I didn't get back from Anime Midwest until 11:30pm last night… I'm not able to stay up late like I used to… I'm definitely going to bed early tonight… hoo…

Disclaimer: Disclaimed. No own. Yada yada, all that typical stuff.

Spirit of Lanaryu

"You know, the freaky ghost fish lady?" Dante said "Used to be the leader around here then the big bad monsters came along and murdered her just to prove a point? She very kindly asked us to go look for her kid, I figured one thing at a time and that we'd go talk to the other spirit that we needed to, keep up the spooky theme we have going right now?" Midna blinked at him a couple times, clearly still waking up and more than a little confused by the current state of affairs. Link nudged her gently with his nose and she looked at him before settling on his back.

"I'm okay," she assured him and then she looked back to the half devil "alright, sounds like we have a plan. Though remind me not to leave you in charge again if things are always going to be this strange when I wake up." Dante just laughed and shrugged

"What can I say, I've got a knack for the bizarre." he looked at the stream that broke away from the lake they were currently standing at and led back down to the larger pool with the shrine and the rushing water that it entailed. He sighed

"This is going to be a struggle isn't it?"

-Legends-

It took the group the better half of the afternoon to get through the cave and end up back down where they started before the whole monster bird scenario. Dante looked over to the shrine, lit from the back by the Twilight that made it feel much earlier than the hunter's internal clock told him it was. The group decided to make camp in a small, secluded spot near the cave where they had some cover but also somewhat dry ground to sleep on. Link curled into a small ball, resting his head on his paws and his tail curling in around him as well, watching the other two as they split the remaining fruits and nuts between them. The wolf's stomach gave a loud growl and Dante laughed a little.

"Sorry kid, I wish some of this were doggy friendly." he said. Link lifted his head enough to growl and then lay back down with a huff. Even if he didn't directly understand, the older man got the gist. "Why don't you go hunt? I know there's not a lot out here but there's gotta be something that you could eat." he said. The teen picked his head up again and Midna paused, listening to whatever the kid was saying.

"He says it's different hunting as a beast, that it makes him feel… wrong? No, less human." the imp translated for the teen. Dante laughed then and the wolf tilted his head, confused by that reaction.

"Kid, you aren't human, get over it. I know that sounds harsh but honestly, you just need to accept that you work differently than others, if that means you need to go hunt down your dinner, then go hunt down your dinner. Don't apologize for doing what you need to, you're not hurting anyone, you need to eat, simple as that. So go hunt, you'll feel better if you do." the half devil knew all too well what happened when you rejected part of your nature, he'd gone through it, he'd watched Nero go through it, he didn't want to watch someone else suffer through the doubt and the confusion and the self loathing if he could help it. Link stared at him for a good long moment, those blue eyes boring into him before rising to his feet and disappearing around the bend. Midna looked back at the hunter

"The only thing he's going to find out there is monsters." she said, the half devil shrugged

"Two birds, one stone then, unless those monsters aren't made of meat?" he said "Besides, if he needs help, I'm sure that he'll give us a howl. He needs to be more comfortable in his wolf-skin, this will help." Midna sighed at Dante's response and settled down around the fire, truth be told, she was worried about the teen too.

-Legends-

The next day, or the closest approximation to it that Dante and Link could guess, found them making their way to the shrine. The snake statues on either side of the opening appeared especially ominous with the long shadows cast from the Twilight. The teen looked briefly at him before confidently trotting into the dark mouth of the shrine. The inside was lit from an opening far in the ceiling but due to the Twilight hanging over the area, the inside was dim and eerie. Midna had stopped outside, saying something about not wanting to interrupt spirits.

Just as it had in Kakariko, a voice emanated from the pool of water in the shrine, weak and dim, just as Eldin had been before. It bid them to return the tears of light to the pool and banish the Twilight from the realm. Link dutifully accepted the vessel for the Tears and they were about to leave when the spirit said

"Child of light and dark…" Dante turned, the other spirit had called him that too, hadn't it? "Your presence is both unexpected and appreciated… I know not what your part to play in this destiny is but I hope you have the courage to fulfill it all the same…" the pool went dim once more and the two were left standing in a dark cave.

"What the hell was that all about…?" Dante grumbled, he had a sinking feeling in his gut that stumbling into this world hadn't been such an accident after all…

A/N: *cue dramatic music*

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	39. Bugs

A/N: Still just pluggin along, today's a slow kind of day, you guys ever have those?

Disclaimer: I'm really running out of ways to do this…

Visions

Link heaved a sigh as they exited the spirit's shrine, this was starting to feel a little repetitive. He couldn't say that that was a bad thing, it certainly made this whole endeavor easier but he was definitely glad that this was going to be the last time. He put his nose to the ground and easily picked up the rotten stink of the insects, trotting along in the right direction, Dante following behind. The half devil seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as he was actually silent for once. Not that he usually minded the idle chit chat, but it was rather annoying to have to wait for everything that he wanted to say to have to go through Midna first.

Most of the insects were obliterated without much effort, there was a lot of climbing up and down the waterfall as Link followed the varying insects around. But then… then he was left wondering. Most of them had been fairly easy to track as they were following the waterfall up or down, but sticking mostly to land, this one must be…

"Kid I can sense something on the lake." Dante said, Link looked up at him and then took off at a brisk trot to a few of the wooden platforms that sat upon the lake's surface. A short, cold paddle and he was standing on top. He looked around, not seeing anything for several seconds when suddenly there was a huge crackle of electricity and the spectral form of a bulbous, oozing insect leapt out of the water. The wolf braced himself as the platform rocked and then growled as the monster hovered in front of him.

-Legends-

Dante and Link made fairly quick work of the monstrous bug, the half devil using his firearms to knock it out of the sky and Link would leap on top of it, biting at its weak, gooey legs. Once it finally gave up the ghost and released several of the Tears, Link was glad for the opportunity to paddle into the water to collect them, rinsing some of the gook from the insect from his fur. Once collected he clambered up on the platform that Dante was standing on, shaking himself clean and enjoying the half devil's cries of protest.

"Dude! That's cold!" he tried to scramble away from the teen, but there wasn't far to go on the wooden platform. Link just gave a wolfish grin and headed back for the shrine. Once they were standing at the edge of the shrine Midna hopped off the teens back to give a quick goodbye for the moment. She'd explained that she didn't really feel comfortable around the light spirits of Hyrule and that it was just easier to avoid the whole situation.

"Hey, this is the last one," she patted Link on the head and he twitched his ears, slightly annoyed "don't lose steam now!" she said and then disappeared into the shadows of the room. The lake began to glow and Link felt his heart hammering in his chest and winced as bones and muscles pulled back into the human shape that he'd been born with. Going back was always easier than going into a wolf but it still wasn't what he'd call pleasant. He rose to his feet as there was a crackle of red electricity next to him and Dante was also returned to his human form. The ball of light was rising out of the pool of water and a massive mouth grabbed it, Link felt himself take an instinctual step back as the giant serpent spirit rose from the water.

"I am Lanaryu…" the words echoed through his head, just Ordon and Eldin had before. "Your efforts have at last restored each of us light spirits in Hyrule. O hero chosen by the gods, the dark power that you seek, it waits in a temple set in the bed of Lake Hylia, but before seeking it, you must now bear witness to something… and never forget it. You must know that it was the will of the goddesses that we lock away the forbidden power…" the spirit's words filled his mind and between on breath and the next, he opened his eyes to find himself floating in the dark. The story that the spirit started with was one that he'd heard a hundred times as a kid, the creation of Hyrule, the golden goddesses, it then turned to one that he'd heard only recently, and from a different perspective… Midna had, once pressured by both himself and Dante, told them the history of her people and what had happened in her ancestry; that they had tried to steal the power of the triforce and the sacred realm for themselves, and had been exiled for it. She had told them that very few of her people still held grudges over it, for how could one miss the light when they'd never known it? But a few still believed that they had some right to the land of light and that Zant was one of them. Still, the visions put forth by the spirit were troubling and he would definitely be discussing the magic that they were pulling together more with Midna later but for now, all he could do was sink to his knees, head spinning from the visions that had been placed in his head. When the ringing in his ears stopped he could hear Dante shouting at the spirit and Lanaryu was quietly telling the half devil that all it had done was ensure that the hero knew what he was seeking. Link waved Dante back and the half devil paused, watching him with concern.

"The dark power that you seek is within the sleeping Lakebed Temple in Lake Hylia…" the spirit said before fading away.

A/N: Probably the best point to leave off on…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	40. Bustling Town

A/N: Man has it been one hell of a trying morning so therefore, I'm gonna type now and… yeah hopefully feel a lot better about everything once I do.

Disclaimer: Sometimes I feel like I don't even own my own time…

Bustling Town

The trio didn't dawdle long in the cave before taking off again, only resting long enough to regain some of their strength and begin the long trek back across the field toward the city that they had only briefly visited. Dante was rather excited to be able to spend time amongst other people, it had been too long that his only company had been an imp and a moody teenager. They had rested for the night and had just started to see the city in the distance when Link perked up, he'd been awfully quiet when they'd left the cave, ignoring most of Dante's attempts to start conversation or brushing him off entirely.

"What is it?" he asked the teen who's face set into a scowl and he started forward

"Someone I need to talk to." the hero said seriously and urged Epona a little faster. They came up upon the outer gate of the city within the next hour and Link dismounted, walking over to one of the decorative pillars, using vines to pull himself up. Dante raised a brow, until he heard a familiar growl and Epona reared in surprise, giving the half devil a boost, allowing him to see the golden wolf leap for the teen. He couldn't help the wince as it disappeared and the hero collapsed on the ground. He knew that the kid would be okay, but it was still concerning every time that it happened.

Link woke up a short time later, looking both confused and more determined than he had when the wolf had leapt. Dante sighed and he could feel Midna relax from the point that she had taken on his shoulder. The teen climbed down from the pillar and rejoined them, gently rubbing Epona's nose, calming the draft horse significantly.

"Who is that?" Dante asked, there was clearly something otherworldly about the wolf but he couldn't tell if the presence was demonic or monstrous in nature.

"I'm… not entirely sure." Link responded, rubbing the back of his head "Someone important, and he's been teaching me, we have nothing to fear from him, that's for sure. He… seems familiar, though I couldn't tell you why…"

"Hmm… Maybe you should ask him." Midna said from the hunter's shoulder, Link shrugged at her.

"It never feels important in the moment." he said "Besides, we've got other, more pressing things to worry about." he started toward the town, leaving Epona to wander free. Dante was continuously impressed that the horse always returned, even if it took her hours. Link just had to blow on one of those reeds and she would come running. It had to be some kind of magic, he was sure of it.

"Yeah, like your girlfriend." the half devil teased, enjoying the way the teen's ears would turn red when he did. Link turned to glare at him.

"She's not my girlfriend." he insisted, much to the elder's amusement, and to his own horror he could hear Midna giggle from her hiding spot in his shadow. "Why do both of you think that? She's just a friend."

"Yeah a friend that you're putting your mission to save the world on hold for." Dante smirked as he spoke and it was starting to get on Link's nerves. Maybe next time he was a wolf he should just bite the man out of spite…

"She wasn't alone, the prince was with her, plus the temple we need to get into is in the bottom of a lake, can you breath underwater?" he asked the hunter. Dante just shrugged

"I've never tried." he said. Link rolled his eyes, of course the man wasn't worried about that...

"Well I definitely can't, so I'm going to need that gift from the queen." he said, marching forward into town.

-Legends-

Dante was more than a little surprised at how bustling the town was, despite the fact that they had been little more than ghosts a couple days ago. There were many people out and about the streets hawking their wares, everything from breads and cheeses to mystical "cure alls". The half devil found himself fascinated by the atmosphere and the strange culture of this land. He couldn't really say that he was well travelled back in his own world. Sure he had to travel for business but hunting down demons didn't exactly leave one with time to smell the roses. He followed the teen absently, trusting that the kid knew where he was going, even though the last time they'd been here it had seemed so very different covered with the gloomy light of the Twilight. They wound their way through the tight streets and eventually found their way to the bar that they had gone to over a week ago now. Link opened the door hesitantly and peeked into the noise and warmth that spilled out. Dante gave him a gentle nudge and the teen continued into the bar, it was quieter than many bars that the half devil had been to and he soon learned why when an elderly man proclaimed

"That is a Zora child, it's beyond my expertise!" and turned toward them to leave, shoving past with a rather loud "Harumph!" as the door slammed behind the two heroes.

A/N: Alright, I've got to move on to work on other things today, so I'm gonna leave this one a little short.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	41. Ilia

A/N: Alright, just gonna keep plugging right along on this, it's funny I'm not looking forward to reaching the lakebed temple in this story almost as much as I don't look forward to it in game whenever I replay it…

Disclaimer: I own copies of the games? Does that count for anything? Yeah, I didn't think so…

Ilya

"Doctor wait!" Dante glanced back to the bar as a soft feminine voice called out and saw a young woman, her hair was short and her clothes didn't match those of the people around town. This must be Link's friend… he thought to himself as the young woman continued "If something isn't done this child will…" she turned away from the slammed door, barely sparing a glance for the two of them, which struck the half devil as odd. Link stepped forward, surprise and longing on his face. This expression was quickly replaced with confusion as she looked back at them once and then turned back to the bar, saying nothing as she passed the person who Dante presumed was the barkeep who said

"Well, this isn't good. A human doctor won't do huh?" The barkeep shook her head as the young woman sat down, a fluffy, spoiled looking cat jumping up on the table to try to comfort her. A figure was laid out on the table, one who could only be the Prince who they were looking for based on his fishy appearance. "That old coot reminded me though," the barkeep continued "I've heard of a shaman in Kakariko Village, in the Eldin province who's tended Gorons and Zoras in the past." she mused. Both men perked up at the mention of Renado, they weren't the only two, the young woman launched off of the bench as well, spinning to face the barkeep.

"Is that true? Perhaps if we take him there…" she trailed off and Dante couldn't help but step forward and clear his throat.

"'Scuse me, I hate to interrupt this moment but, what is going on here?" He didn't even get a reaction before the door opened and a slew of guards came in.

"I would advise against travelling through Hyrule field alone, it's too dangerous!" Said one of the ones in front, likely the leader "But we can't turn a blind eye to a pretty girl in need either." he continued and Dante had to snort

"And Lady tells me _my_ compliments are terrible…" he said, he could _feel_ the daggers that the guard was shooting, even from beneath his helm. The guard turned back to the two women in the bar

"What I'm saying is, we'd best escort you, right boys?" the remaining guards gave haughty hoorah's in response and the half devil rolled his eyes, they all just wanted to earn favor with a pretty girl. At the very least, he could say that he'd never stooped that low, he glanced back to the teen to see how he was taking it. The teen was still staring at the young woman as though she'd just slapped him. The barkeep just huffed and turned back to the young woman

"Isn't that nice, to reach Kakariko, we've got to cross two plains that are each infested by dangerous beasts, but I'm sure we'll be safe now." Some of the guards dropped their enthusiasm. Dante snorted and stepped past them, enjoying the way they all tried to size up the strange man in their midst.

"Please, these men could barely handle the meat they ate last night, and that was already dead." he said, the head guard turned to face him and Dante could now see the anger in his eyes through the eye slit.

"We are the trained guard of Hyrule, who are you that you think you could escort them safely?" he asked, stepping up to the half devil, who had several inches on the man and used it to his advantage, looking down his nose at the guard with a raised brow.

"The man who's going to kick your ass if you don't back down and get out." he growled, reaching back for his sword. He could see the guards eyes widen as they followed the length of the blade down to the floor. The guard audibly swallowed and stepped back.

"Come along men, apparently these ladies would rather risk it with hooligans than the guard, hopefully you make it with your lives to regret it." he said, marching out of the room, followed by his posse, the door slamming behind the last of them.

"Cowards!" The barkeep called after "See if I ever let you show your faces around here again!" she laughed lightly and turned to face the two men still standing near the door. "You have my thanks sir."

"It's my pleasure," Dante said with a grin "name's Dante, the quiet one back there is Link." he gestured to the teen who was still standing in the same place, just as dumbstruck as before.

"Well then, Dante, Link, would you be willing to escort us across Hyrule field? It's not as safe as it once was."

"Of course! I've been itching for a good fight." the half devil said, elbowing the teen who simply stumbled and then looked at the elder who gave a pointed look at the two women. Link turned slightly red

"Yes, we'd be more than willing to lead you." he said quietly.

"Well then, gather your things honey, we'll leave pronto." the barkeep said. The young woman quickly went upstairs, the barkeep then stepped up to the teen.

"You know that girl don't you?"

A/N: I know this is a smidge short but that's the best point to stop at, so!

Until next time,

-Winged Element


	42. Race Across the Field

A/N: Man it's been one heck of a busy day. But that's not bad from time to time, I'm going to get started on this, not sure if I'll finish it now or tomorrow but we'll see.

Disclaimer: Phooey

Race Across the Field

Link hesitated, watching after Ilya as she fled up the stairs. He looked back to the barkeep.

"Yes." he said quietly, he could feel Dante's eyes on him as he spoke.

"It's a real shame…" the barkeep said "she can't even remember her own name right now. Bless her heart, she found this young boy collapsed in the road, so she did al she could to save him. More courage in that girl than in all the soldier of Hyrule, for sure! You lend your strength to her you hear me?" She was nearly glaring at him and Link found himself nodding fervently and more than a little intimidated by the woman. Ilya appeared a few short moments later and was making sure that the young Zora boy was going to be okay to move. The concern and care that she showed pushed away some of the hero's worries, she was acting like the Ilya he knew, if nothing else, but how had she lost her memories? Dante nudged him gently and he helped move the Zora child out to the wagon that the barkeep, who'd introduced herself as Telma, had procured. Within the hour they had moved out to the outside of town, Link riding on Epona and Dante comfortably seated on the wagon, happy to not be riding a horse for once. Telma looked into the distance.

"So you say the bridge to the east has been destroyed, huh? Then our only option is to cross the bridge to the west." she said, Dante looked at the map that Telma had provided them.

"I'd say that's our best bet, it's certainly not ideal." the half devil said, watching as a large monster patrolled the bridge upon a huge boar.

"You see what that means?" Telma said, pointing at said monster "You two will have to deal with that thing!"

"I just see a whole lot of bacon, right kid?" Dante chuckled, Link looked to the two women who were counting on their success and nodded, they couldn't fail here. Telma expertly pulled the cart around to get ready for their flight across the field. Link found himself fidgeting in the saddle, eager for the fight to come, something that he honestly thought he would never be. Ilya leaned slightly out the window and he looked up at her.

"Th-thank you so much for this… I'll never forget your kindness…" she turned around to face Dante, who was standing on the back of the wagon "Or yours."

"Save it until we're safe and sound honey." the hunter laughed, checking down the sights of his firearms. And then they were off. Link urged Epona far, far ahead of the wagon, riding down the bridge, pulling out his bow and firing off a couple rapid shots at the monster on the boar, cursing under his breath as the first one went wide and the second only grazed its shoulder. Suddenly there was a flash of red in front of him, a blur and then the boar was falling, its front legs cut out from under it and its guts spilling onto the stone beneath them. Link stood in the saddle, drawing his sword and intending to tackle the monster from the collapsing boar and onto the bridge, but instead simply changed the monster's trajectory. The monster howled as it tumbled over the edge of the bridge and Link felt his breath leave him as his ribs slammed into the rail. He flipped over and wheezed, trying to get air back into his lungs.

"You okay?" Dante asked, looking at him with concern as he shook the boar's blood from his sword.

"Why didn't you tell me… that you could move that fast…?" Link managed once his breath started to come back.

"It's not an ability I use often, plus it takes a lot of energy to pull off." the half devil explained, offering a hand to the teen and pulling him to his feet "What'cha got?" he pointed to the teen's hand. Link looked down, not even realizing that he'd grabbed something in his useless grasping after the monster. A small key and a bit of fabric lay in his palm.

"A key, wonder what it's for…" he said, slipping it into a pouch. Didn't hurt to hold onto it… Telma rolled the cart up next to them and looked at Dante curiously. Link saw Ilya peek out of the cart and then quickly turn away at the sight of blood.

"How on earth did you get over here so quickly?" the barkeep asked the half devil, who just smiled deviously in response.

"One of my many talents." he said with a wink. Telma rolled her eyes.

"Just keep up the good work." she said, urging the horse on.

-Legends-

The rest of their journey wasn't nearly as exciting, there were a few gates, which Link was surprised to find that the key he'd pulled from the monster fit perfectly. There were also a good number of huge monstrous birds that would swoop down and meet a swift end either by arrow or bullet. There were many nights of quiet watching and Link was a little sad to find that this memory-less version of his friend was practically frightened of him. She spent most of the journey looking after the Zora child, who wasn't looking too great. Dante tried to help him cheer up, but it was hard, someone who he'd known ever since he could remember didn't even remember his name and was looking at him like he might chop her in two… He just hoped the other kids might help her remember.

A/N: Alright, that's another thing down, today's been just as busy as yesterday, but at least I'm not bored!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	43. Return to the Village

A/N: Whew… okay, man, 43 chapters in huh? Well… How about a word of advice? Do not take phones on roller coasters! *speaking as an experienced person* You will lose them!

Disclaimer: Nope, no own.

Return to the Village

By the time Kakariko came into view, Telma's cart horse was about ready to drop, its tongue lolling out of its mouth and froth coating its neck. Link was very concerned that the poor animal wasn't going to make it, despite the fact that the village was just visible along the walls of the gorge. Dante had gotten off the cart and had been walking or jogging alongside them for a good portion of the journey now. The hero had offered to trade him at one point and the half devil had waved him off with a

"Nah, save your strength, I'll be fine." and a shrug. Despite this Link was a little worried, and he could feel Midna's concern seeping into him too. When he saw the lookout spires from atop Epona he spurred her forward, racing into the town and straight up to Renado's place. The shaman opened the door to frantic knocking with a confused expression.

"Please Renado, there's a Zora child, he's very sick, we're not sure what's wrong with him, they're coming up the road now." the teen explained quickly. To his credit for being woken up by sudden knocking on his door, Renado was very calm as he turned to his daughter and said

"Luda, prepare the sick bed and the medicines, it's going to be a long night." Renado turned back to Link as his daughter went darting back into the house. "Bring him here." The shaman commanded, the teen nodded and whirled his horse around, galloping back in the other direction. The cart horse was barely plodding along when he got back.

"Give me the boy," he said, holding his arms out. Dante jumped back into the cart and gently lifted the Zora boy from the back, despite Ilya's protest, the girl trying to put herself between the hunter and the boy. Dante had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "He's going to be fine," Dante said "besides, we'll be following right behind him." Ilya eyed him warily but moved out of the way. The hunter lifted the boy from the makeshift bed within the cart and then leaned out, handing the kid to Link. The teen adjusted briefly and then took off toward town, trailing dust behind him. The half devil sighed and leapt back down off of the cart, walking beside it once more. His feet ached but by the looks of it, the horse was hurting more so he couldn't complain. Telma looked about ready to drop and Ilya appeared sick with worry. It was rather endearing to see someone who was so concerned with the well-being of others but the hunter was certain that was going to get her in trouble in the future.

The town came up around them soon enough though and Telma hopped off the cart and immediately started unhitching the horse. Dante helped where he could and shortly they were leading the horse to water where it promptly lowered its was already in the shaman's hut after the Zora boy. The half devil stood back with Telma, knowing that his talents were far from healing abilities.

"I can't thank you enough for helping us across the field. I'm no stranger to a good fight but I'm not sure we would have made it past those monsters alone." the barkeep said, Dante just sat down right where he stood, his feet aching and nodded.

"It's no problem, I've got a stake in keepin the kid alive and I'm sure that if I hadn't been there you guys might've been paste on the road. Kid's got a good heart but sometimes it's a bit too soft." Dante closed his eyes but he heard Telma grunt as she settled on the ground next to him.

"What and you're the tough guy to even him out?" she teased, poking him in the shoulder. The half devil opened a single eye and looked over at her.

"Maybe, what's it to you?" he asked. Telma just laughed

"Not sure, maybe I like tough guys." before anything else could be said Link walked up.

"Renado told me to leave the room." he grumbled, taking a seat next to the pair already on the ground. Dante propped himself up on his elbows.

"I'm not surprised, you might be experienced in battle wounds but that's a far cry from disease. At least I think so, I get shooed out of the medical room too." he said. Telma had to laugh at the two warriors as they bantered back and forth, the pair of them were so similar, now that the fighting had ended for the day neither knew what to do. So they floated from thing to thing and right now that was getting shooed away from the shaman trying to do his job.

Link wasn't sure when he fell asleep but he was awoken by Renado's daughter shaking his shoulder. He jolted and lifted his lip half out of instinct, wondering as the rest of his sleep fell away if he would forever be shaking off the canine instincts whenever he was human. He yawned and looked up and Luda said

"My father says that the Zora boy is through the worst of it, now all he needs is rest, and so do the rest of you. If you follow me I can lead you to one of the empty houses, we've put bedding in it for you already."

A/N: A smidge short, I know, but I've got a lot of DM prep work to do currently, sooooo we're going to leave it here!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	44. Respite

A/N: Y'know, someday I'll go back and combine a bunch of chapters so that this thing doesn't look like it's ridiculously long, which I suppose it technically is, I think it's almost in the running for one of my longest fics… jeez… never thought they'd get longer than Family of Happenstance but… here we are. Anyway, let's get on with our regularly scheduled chapter huh?

Disclaimer: Still disclaimed.

Respite

The morning sun came much too early, in Link's opinion, but he couldn't help but rise with it when it came. His body told him that when the so rose, so did he. He wondered briefly when that had changed, back in the village Fado had always had to come yell up at his house to get him up and to the field by a reasonable hour of the day. Maybe sleeping on the ground for weeks had something to do with it… He yawned and stretched, seeing that Dante was not having the same problem, the hunter was still settled into a deep sleep, one of his firearms within arms reach all the same. Link shook his head and walked slowly over to Renado's hut, hoping that the shaman was awake. He was curious of the state of the Zora child, and also he was hoping to find some food.

Renado opened the door of his hut after the first knock, the smell of bacon seeping out from the doorway. Link felt and heard his stomach rumble at the smell, Renado gave a tired laugh and ushered him inside. Some of the other children were up and Colin handed him a plate as he sat near the cookfire, the shaman sitting next to him.

"The Zora child is doing better," he said and then looked curiously at the teen "but do you happen to know the fate of the child's mother?" Link paused, and set the bacon back down on the plate. He had a sinking feeling he knew who this child was. Renado watched him but continued anyway "Her welfare consumes him. He has been mumbling deliriously about her almost constantly…" there was a pause "I see…" the shaman put a hand on his shoulder "I can see the knowledge grieves you. It must be an awful memory." Link swallowed against his suddenly tight throat and nodded. He could feel Midna's grief and regret pouring out from her hiding spot. A small hand was placed on his shoulder and the teen turned in surprise to see Colin standing behind him.

"I'll stay with him until he's better!" the blond said with a grin "No matter how long it takes!" Renado smiled at the kid

"Thank you Colin." the shaman said, voicing the words that Link suddenly felt himself choking on. The three of them paused in what they were doing, watching Ilia follow Luda around, gathering new bedsheets and clean water. Colin looked very sad suddenly.

"Is it true…?" he started, and then stopped, appearing unable to put the thoughts into words.

"Yeah." Link said quietly "She has no memory." it hurt to have someone that he'd known for so long look at him like a stranger, a dangerous stranger at that…

"We just have to have hope," Renado said warmly "I'm certain that she'll get her memories back, it will take work, but it can be done."

-Legends-

It was nearly afternoon when Dante woke up, he grinned at the sight of the sun actually moving throughout the sky and got to his feet, stretching thoroughly. He hadn't been able to appreciate the fact that the time of day had been moving again for a while, they'd been pushing forward so quickly. The half devil looked outside to see the teen sitting at the spring near the front of town, pants rolled up to his knees and lifting buckets of water over Epona, the horse occasionally shaking off the extra drops, much to the delight of the children, who would squeal and run off. It was good to see them happy, he hadn't seen them as spirits, but he'd seen them just after they'd lifted the twilight and the whole group of them had been terrified, jumping at every shadow. He holstered his guns and sword and stepped out into the day, both Telma and Renado were walking back from the gorge, baskets of some type of herb with them.

"Hey there sleepyhead." Telma called out with a grin, Dante smiled and waved back to her

"Hey yourself. I haven't been able to sleep on bed in ages, you can't exactly blame me for wanting to make the most of it." he said, Renado smiled warmly at him but the half devil could tell that the shaman was a little uncomfortable around him but was far too polite to say anything. Dante pretended that he didn't notice. He offered a hand to Telma, who gladly handed over her basket, which was a lot heavier than it looked.

"Oh, why thank you good sir!" she said exuberantly "You didn't say that you were such a gentleman!" Dante couldn't help but laugh at that

"I wouldn't go that far!" he said and then looked at the herbs "Are these for medicine or for food?" he asked curiously

"A bit of both." Renado said politely, opening the door to his hut for all of them. "There's some food left," he said "provided that the children haven't eaten it all already…"

"I'll take what I can get." Dante said with a grin, his stomach growled in agreement.

"Also, feel free to take advantage of the hot springs, I'm sure you'd like to wash off the grime of the road."

"That. Would be wonderful." the half devil said, thankful for the minor respite in their travels, maybe they were getting toward the end of their journey…

A/N: Alright, finishing this up and just need to work on some DM prep stuff, man, running three campaigns and playing in three others is rough…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	45. Back to a Regularly Scheduled Adventure

A/N: Alright, I'm getting started on writing the chapter this week but, eh, it's a short week due to Labor Day, so I'm feelin a bit lazy, you guy's will get the chapter the same time you always do next week.

Disclaimer: Eh (it's a very eh day)

Back to the Regularly Scheduled Adventure

It was evening time and Dante found himself sitting outside, despite the cool night breeze that was rolling though. Everything just seemed to move so slowly here… Telma stepped out and sat on the wooden porch next to him with a huff. For a good while the pair of them just sat, watching the children putter around; all of them appeared to be doing well, despite the news of Ilia's memory and the displacement from their homes.

"You're going to keep helping him aren't you?" Telma asked suddenly, Dante glanced over at her.

"Yeah, that's the plan anyway, I've got a few errands of my own to run, but I'm not too worried about it, it'll work itself out in the long run, it always does." The hunter said, looking up at the sky and the stars that were starting to twinkle out. Telma gave him an odd look and it took the half devil a moment to realize that he was implying that he'd been through something like this before. Which he had of course, but trying to explain the situation would be more headache than it was worth; thankfully, Telma didn't comment on it and instead continued.

"Do you know, is he willing to put his skills to use for all of Hyrule, or is he just out to save his own skin?" she asked, watching the teen play with the children. Dante paused, thinking back to the late night conversations around the campfire.

"Link's a good kid, he can't very well leave people who still need help. He'll be in for the long run that's for sure." Dante said, he saw a lot of himself in the teen, and if the kid didn't help, well they could count on him to do what he could.

"That's good, because what hope there is in our kingdom is frail and dying… but there's still a group trying to do what it can, a group that I'm a part of. I think I'm going to stay here a bit longer. I'm still worried about Ilia, and… well, never mind about the rest." she watched Renado make his way back to his home. Dante gave the barkeep a side eye and she looked back, noticing "Oh, hush you." she said

"I didn't say anything." Dante grinned.

"I expect to see you two again at my bar, you hear me?" she said sternly.

"Yes ma'am," the hunter said "you don't have to tell me twice." Telma actually laughed at that.

"It's not just a bar, it's actually a kind of safe house for my friends. There's a passageway that leads to the castle from inside as well."

"Snooping on the royals huh?" Dante quipped, Telma rolled her eyes.

"Just promise you'll stop by if either of you need anything okay?" she said seriously

"I promise." the half devil said

"I'm counting on you honey." she grinned, getting to her feet and throwing a wink his way as well. The hunter winked back good naturedly as she followed after Renado. He looked back to where Link and the children had been playing and noticed that the teen was no longer among them. He caught Colin as the blonde ran by

"Hey, what happened to Link?" he asked the child, who looked slightly scared of the hunter.

"He was acting weird and then went off toward the graveyard." the kid said, darting off as soon as Dante let him go. The half devil sighed and wandered over to the small graveyard that Kakariko housed. He looked around and saw no one, he could barely sense Midna's aura but it was just ahead of him… there was nothing there… As he wandered toward the back he saw Link crawling out of a small tunnel that was hidden among the rocks and brush that lined the cemetery.

"What on earth are you doing down there?" Dante asked with a raised brow as the teen stood up and brushed off his knees

"I was talking to the Zora Queen again, she showed me where this was." Link held up a small wrapped bundle "It's enchanted to allow the wearer to have the abilities of a Zora." he explained. Dante blinked a couple times in surprise and then sighed.

"I'm sorry I asked, let me save you the trouble of ever writing memoirs for the future generations. Your adventures sound like nonsense without context." Dante said, the only reaction he got was a light shove.  
"Come on, now we can go down to the lakebed temple." the teen said, Dante gave him a look

"Kid, you're forgetting something important. I can't breathe underwater."

A/N: I know this is super short but I need to get started on the next chapter and well… idk I'm lazy? Also, not sure if I want to cover the whole lakebed temple, I mean the things a pain to play through, let alone read about. So… yeah I don't know yet. I might split the heroes for that venture.


	46. Sinking to the Bottom

A/N: Alright so things might break away from the in-game events, mostly cause I really, really don't feel like dealing with the lakebed temple for more than a chapter or two… What is it with Zelda games and water temples just not being very much fun? Granted I'm a pleb and still haven't played through the classic water temple in Ocarina of Time so...

Disclaimer: I don't think I'm allowed to even remotely claim Zelda without having beaten Ocarina of Time… so yeah, there's that

Sinking to the Bottom

"You… what?" Link asked slowly, trying to make sure that he'd heard the half devil correctly.

"I can't breathe underwater." Dante reiterated

"That's not one of the powers that you just don't feel like mentioning just because you forgot or something?" the teen asked, really hoping that he wasn't about to take on a dungeon with a third of his party down. Midna was a great companion, but she was just that, a companion, she wasn't much help as a shadow on the ground.

"No, I'm afraid not, if I can, it's something new to me." he said with a rueful grin "We could always ask your fish-lady friend for another boon couldn't we?" Dante proffered, Link shook his head.

"No, she's gone to rest now with her husband. She gave me her last words to tell her son too." the teen said. "Speaking of which, I should do that before we leave town. It'd be poor form for me to forget her last words before I could pass them on."

"Well I'll see to it that things are set that we can start to head back to the lake at first light. At the very least, I'll see you to the lake, if we can't figure something else out first." Dante said.

As they walked back to the town the half devil called out to Midna from where she hid.

"Are you going to be able to join him?" he asked softly, her wide yellow eye blinked in her shadow-y form.

"Yes, you're not planning on abandoning him are you?" she challenged, Dante froze where he walked, more than a little taken aback.

"No, not at all, but I'm not lying in the fact that I cannot breathe underwater, I can't really help you when the temple's on the bottom of a lake unless we find some sort of additional tools to help with that problem." the half devil said rather defensively. Midna nodded and drifted forward again, the hunter following.

"I just had to be sure." she said.

-Legends-

It took a solid couple of weeks for the pair to reach Lake Hylia once again. As they rested up along the shore, near the shrine where they'd spoken to the local spirit Link looked up the waterfall to where all of the Zora's had been imprisoned.

"I wonder if I should bring them news of their prince." he wondered, pausing in sharpening the sword across his knees. Dante looked at him and then up to the top of the waterfall and said

"They don't know who you are, why would they believe an outsider on news of their prince? Not to say that you aren't a good kid, but the Gorons didn't appreciate an outsider's opinion, I can't say that these folk won't do the same. Perhaps you can write to the shaman in Kakariko and tell him that the Zoras are looking for their lost prince." the hunter said. Link nodded

"That's probably a good idea." he said, pausing in his sharpening to pull out a quill and a piece of paper. Dante was curious to see that the quill and ink also came out of the seemingly infinite pouch that Link had on his hip.

"Have you always had that thing?" Dante asked, pointing to the pouch. Link paused, quill dipped into the ink bottle.

"Um, no, it showed up when I woke back up as a person after being a wolf the first time. It came with the uh, outfit. Took me a while to figure it out, it was a bit weird at first." he explained, pulling out the quill and continuing his letter.

The pair was quiet for the rest of the evening, and both of them woke early the next morning. Link handed the letter to Dante.

"Do you think you could see this delivered?"

"Yeah, do I just put it in a mail box?" the half devil asked cautiously. Link gave him a funny look

"Yeah, what else would you do?"

"I don't know, anyway, you be safe down there, alright?" Dante said, putting a hand on the teen's shoulder. Link nodded seriously

"I will, besides, I've got Midna to protect me, right?" he called over his shoulder. Midna gave a small giggle in response.

"That's why I'm worried," the half devil said "I'll be down as soon as I can find some sort of means of breathing underwater." Link grinned and nodded at the hunter's response before turning and diving into the water. Dante couldn't help the clench of worry in his gut as the teen did not resurface, despite knowing that Link would be fine. He took a deep breath, wandered near the handful of houses built right along the lake, dropped off the letter, and went back to the shrine. Once inside, he walked out onto the platform that hung over the water.

"Alright, you said I have a destiny to follow here as well. Well I've got time and I want some answers."

A/N: I know this is a bit short as well buuuuut… I'm just ready to be done writing for the day, I've done a lot of it today… a lot. Plus it was a good point to stop, so there.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	47. A Fate of One's Own

A/N: Alright, here we go, early afternoon and I'm just getting started on this… well y'know what they say, better late than never, also I'm excited to get going on this chapter as it will be a bit different. Also also, a kind reviewer pointed out to me that there is a scene in DMC1 where Dante spends a great deal of time underwater… so… yeah… I got that review after I'd already typed up the last chapter but… yeah that kinda threw a wrench in my plans so… I'll see what I can do…

Disclaimer: claimed, not.

Fate of One's Own

For several long moments the water was still and the half devil wondered if maybe he'd made a mistake just barging in here and demanding to be heard. He didn't have a ton of experience in dealing with spirits, devils just weren't as complicated, you shouted, they tended to answer in kind. Then the water rippled and the massive serpent spirit rose from the water, towering over the Dante.

" _Hello again hunter."_ it said, it's voice echoing almost painfully in his head. Dante squinted slightly against the brightness of the spirit.

"Yeah, hi, you want to actually answer something straight for me?" he asked, sitting down and allowing his legs to dangle off of the outcropping of land. The spirit didn't move

" _What is it you would ask?_ " it said, that voice echoing once again. The half devil sighed

"I already did, were you listening, what is this fate that you told me about that's involved with this land?" he asked

" _Fate is a fickle mistress, she does as she wishes and comes and goes as she pleases._ " The spirit said and the hunter rolled his eyes.

"So you have no idea." he said and started to get to his feet "If that's the case, I'll just be on my way."

" _There is a darkness in this land-"_

"Yeah I got that much, it wasn't exactly hiding, the kid and I helped get you out of it in case you don't remember."

" _Not the Twilight. Something different. Something dark and twisted. The darkness within it reminds me much of the darkness within yourself hunter."_ it intoned. This actually gave Dante pause.

"You mean to say that there's devils here? In this world?" he asked. The spirit paused and tilted its head.

" _I cannot say for certain. Most of the corruption seems to be located to the north of the lake, near the slopes of the mountain…"_

"That's more of an answer than I had before, thanks for the tip." the half devil waved a hand and turned to leave the cave.

" _Hunter._ " the spirit called. Dante turned around, one brow raised " _This corruption. You intend to put an end to it?_ "

"Well I'm certainly not going to invite it to tea." the half devil joked. When the spirit just continued to stare at him he sighed "Yes. I'm going to try and stop it."

" _You have my thanks_." the spirit disappeared then and Dante shook his head as he left.

-Legends-

The half devil had time to think as he made his way north toward the apparent source of corruption that the spirit had sensed. As he did he wondered if he'd made the right choice. He could have gone down to the temple with the teen and Midna, he could hold his breath for a long time, but a long time wasn't forever and who was to say how long the pair would be down there, or if there was air within the temple. Besides he probably ought to look into this 'corruption' that Lanaryu was talking about. If devils were making their way into this world, who better to deal with them than someone who dealt in devils for a living? He wondered if they were the same kinds of devils he was used to dealing with or just a variation of the monsters that he'd been seeing since he had arrived here. He looked up at the sky, pale and blue with high floating wispy clouds dotting it; it was so different from the city smog that he had grown accustomed to.

"Wonder how long its been back home…" he knew that oftentimes time flowed a little differently in the hells when he'd popped in but this wasn't one of the hells, or if it was… well it was really nice comparatively. He wondered if Trish and Lady had started to worry yet. The pair liked to pretend that they couldn't give a damn if he dropped dead but he knew that they both worried about him in their own way. Nero… well Nero probably hadn't even noticed yet that he was gone, caught up in the restoration of Fortuna as he was.

The sudden twinge of a demonic presence was enough to make him freeze in his tracks. It was different from the monsters that he'd been fighting since he'd gotten here. It had been nearly two months since he'd felt it but this was one of the demons from his home. The half devil grinned and pulled Ebony from her holster, clicking the safety back and grinning as he stalked forward. There was a sudden chill in the air, a prickle down the back of his neck and the hunter had to hold back his laughter as his nerves spiked with excitement. Blue eyes flicked along the brush, trying to pinpoint the presence that he was feeling. He whistled

"Come out come out wherever you are… I don't have all day…"

A/N: Sorry if that last bit was a bit… descriptive? Wordy? Idk I like having some parts that allow the characters to just think for a bit, gives me a break from the attempts at witty banter too. Plus I just like giving out descriptions... yeah, plus I have to drive home here soon.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	48. Struggles

A/N: Alright I told myself that I could work on my original work after this, that and an NCR (eww) but I started a new thing recently and it's been consuming my thoughts with its steampunk, airship pirate-y goodness. But I should actually keep up with this, otherwise it will literally just sit forever. What's the idea? That habit is better than motivation?

Disclaimer: I own my original work but this is not that so.

Struggles

Link sighed as he looked around the room once more, there had to be a way out of here. Midna's shadowy form perched on his shoulder as she too observed the room, trying to puzzle a way out. The teen could feel the water seeping into the flippers and squish between his toes and he made a face, this was not helping his concentration… He was severely regretting his decision to help out the land at this very moment. Right now it seemed more like he was being asked to beat his head against bizarre puzzles that whoever designed this temple had to think they were very clever for designing rather than beating back an ancient evil.

"Alright," he said "let's take this from the top again."

"Sure," Midna rolled her eyes "tenth time's a charm right?"

-Legends-

Dante pulled back the safety on Ebony and stood upright, taking in the sounds of the forest for a moment, letting the monster come to him rather than the other way around. There was a rustle, and then another, and another, the half devil whirled around and shot the demon point blank as it leapt toward the back of his head. It crumpled to the ground, dead upon impact and the hunter couldn't help the grin that spread across his face.

"C'mon, is that all you've got?" he shouted to the rustling that continued around him. There was the briefest seconds of silence and then, then all hell broke loose. The small section of forest was immediately overrun with color and sound as the half devil was surrounded by a dozen or so demons, his blade and gun a whirl of steel and lead, the bodies of the demons falling to the ground like leaves. Dante found himself laughing as a claw sliced through the leather of his jacket and nicked his arm. The wound was closed within seconds but it was the most excitement that he'd had in battle for a long time. Which was why when the fight ended a moment later the half devil was left breathing heavy, not with exertion, but with bloodlust. It had been too long since he'd been able to really let loose in a fight, not have to worry about anything. He shook his head, once, twice, trying to calm down the demonic part of himself, it'd been a long time since he'd felt it this bad, the _itch_ to fight and kill, to hurt and be hurt in return.

"Jeez, get ahold of yourself." he said aloud, sheathing Rebellion on his back. The sword wasn't helping matters as it sent out waves of _excitement_ and _battle_ through the back of his mind. Dante took a long slow breath, the nerves settling slightly but he couldn't help but hope that there was another small nest of devils hiding just up ahead.

A rustle and spark of demonic energy answered his hope. There it was. He grinned, not noticing the spark of red that flicked off his shoulder as he paced forward, Ivory joining her sister in his other hand.

-Legends-

Link tried very hard to ignore Midna's giggling as he spit out another mouthful of goop. Now that the danger had passed, he was just left feeling grimy and gross. He wiped futilely at his bracers, shaking more muck off of the ends of his fingers.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." he grumbled at the imp, who just continued to giggle. She shook her head.

"It's just… your face when the thing exploded…" she trailed off into another round of giggles and Link just sighed.

"Yeah, not happy about having to fight a giant frog… thing. Damn… how long have we been down here…?" he wondered, looking at the ceiling. Underwater there was no way of knowing, he'd gone too many days lately where he had no way of telling the time, no way of knowing how long he'd been at one leg of his journey or another. Midna blinked at hearing the teen swear and then looked up at the ceiling.

"I'd say about a day, but it's hard to tell down here." she said. "I wonder what Dante's up to?" she floated backward near the teen's head as he knelt next to a pool of water, peeling bits of armor off to try to get some of the grime out of them.

"I think he had stuff to do, otherwise I'd guess that he's just sitting where we left him, fishing or relaxing. He doesn't seem like the type to do much in between saving the world." the hero sighed, then grimaced as the water turned dark around his hat and face mask.

"Weird that he's done it more than once." Midna said and the teen nodded "I wonder if you'll ever be free of helping everyone…" she continued, Link just snorted

"Nope, they get one. One's all I'm signing up for, then it's someone else's turn to save the world." he said "It's far too messy."

"I don't think they ask for volunteers…"

-Legends-

How long had it been? Hours? Minutes? Days? Weeks? He couldn't tell, didn't care either. All that mattered was the feel of a weapon in hand, the smell of blood in the air, the screams and squalls of the dying around him. An enemy snarled at him and he snarled right back, tail lashing as said enemy was decapitated in a single stroke. Where was the next…?

A/N: Alright, actually kicking off some story stuff that isn't predicted in the game, yay!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	49. Curses

A/N: I meant to get started on this earlier this morning but… eh, I got caught up in other stuff, I've got a bunch of NCR's to work on but I think I'm gonna wait until the last one rolls in to work on them so… here we go I suppose?

Disclaimer: This computer? Not mine. Just like DMC and LoZ

Curses

There was a moment, a brief sliver of clarity. Dante blinked, Rebellion slipping from his fingers as the carnage around him started to sink in. He spun in a circle, eyes wide

"What…?" energy still poured out of him, sparking off his skin in small red zaps and it gave him pause, he looked down at his hands, taking in the claws and demonic armor. There was the snarl of a demon behind him and he whirled, arm coming up to block the bite. Teeth sank into his arm, drawing blood and a snarl from himself and all of a sudden the blanket of bloodlust was back over his mind as the demon fell back to the ground, heart removed from its body…

-Legends-

Link sighed as the shadows collected into the last piece of the fused shadow. It had been an absolutely maddening couple of days down here under the lake. He was thankful it was over, he was fairly certain he'd forgotten what it felt like to be dry… Not for the first time he wondered what Dante was up to on the surface. He hoped that the half devil wasn't too far when he surfaced again. He wasn't sure he was up to hunting down the other man in addition to completing his own quest.

"Well that's the last one…" Midna said, reappearing from his shadow, the pair of them looking at the armor piece that floated ominously between them. "I'll just be taking that." she reached out for the shadow

"Be careful." Link said softly, the imp looked at him.

"Of course, I know what I'm doing… And… um, thanks, for helping me get these." she said, pointedly not looking at him as she placed the fused shadow into its own pocket dimension. Link just smiled and shook his head

"Don't go thanking me yet, we still have to stop Zant."

"You mean the king of shadows?" Midna said and the teen rolled his eyes.

"Right, let's get out of here." he said, Midna nodded and floated a short ways away, a quick zap of energy creating a portal on the ground.

"On it, you good to go?" she asked, Link nodded and took her hand, bracing himself for the feeling of teleportation.

Link took a deep breath as they reappeared in the shrine of Lanaryu, it was always a little jarring to get one's bearings back about them when they teleported. He sighed and turned, ready to walk out of the shrine and find Dante when he nearly walked into a tall figure in dark robes and probably the creepiest mask that the teen had ever seen. He took half a step back, startled and was about to ask him who the heck he was when the lake erupted, Lanaryu making its presence known, snarling at the mysterious figure. The figure raised a single hand and Lanaryu shot back and Link stumbled over his own feet. He was about to rise again when the self proclaimed king of shadows did something, the shrine darkening to an artificial twilight and the teen's eyes widened

"No!" before he could do anything else pain ripped through his limbs, the transformation violently taking hold of him. It was so much worse when it was sudden, unexpected, he couldn't help the cry of pain that ripped from his throat and he collapsed back onto the ground, twitching and squirming as his body changed.

Midna looked over to her friend in horror, she hated watching him go through this. Her head snapped back to the cause

"Zant." she said, the name like acid in her mouth. He didn't respond, merely pushed her back over the pond in the shrine. She squirmed, not able to fight against his ill gotten power, even as he pulled the fused shadow from its hiding place.

"No!" she yelled as he took several measured steps forward, inspecting the artifacts that floated before him.

"Did you honestly mean to take an ancient and withered power like this and turn it against me?" his voice was soft, calm even. A flick of his fingers sent the fused shadow clattering to the other side of the shrine. "You a foolish traitor Midna." he sighed "Why do you defy your king?"

"My king?!" Midna was furious "You who does nothing but abuse the magic of your tribe? You've got to be kidding me!"

"How dare you?!" he snarled, and the imp gleaned some satisfaction from finally getting to him. "Are you implying that my power is our old magic? Now… that's quite the joke." his voice dropped to a whisper and he pulled the imp from her floating point and tossed her onto the ground. "This power is granted to me by my god! It is the magic of the King of Twilight, and you will respect it!" power began to crackle between the usurper's hands and Midna struggled to get to her feet. Link managed to shake the ache from his limbs and launched himself at the figure, only to find himself flying back the other way, colliding with the ground once again. He felt Midna shake him and he twitched an ear, he could hear Zant speaking but couldn't make out the words, there was a moment of silence and then blinding light beyond his eyelids. He squinted and felt the stomach dropping jolt of teleportation before everything went dark with unconsciousness.

A/N: *cue dramatic music* everything is going poorly, but you know things have to get worse before they can get better, so here we go! On a side note, we're more than halfway through the cutscenes of the game, so there's that at least?

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	50. Sacrifices

A/N: Whew, fifty chapters huh? And yet I still feel like I've got a long way to go, I'm hoping to finish this chapter up pretty quickly cause I've got an NCR to work on and I really, really should finish up that PA… urgh… I really don't want to but… *sighs* At least this is pretty relaxing so I'll do this first.

Disclaimer: You know what I do own? This nice, warm cup of tea.

Sacrifice

The first thing that Link was aware of was the feeling of grass on his fur. He blinked blearily, trying to take a mental account of his faculties. The shuffle of a tail confirmed that he wasn't, in fact, human, but beyond that all of his limbs appeared to be in working order, even if they all hurt… His shoulder was bruised from the impact with the wall- wait. He paused and opened his eyes, shaking his head to try to clear some of it. Midna's soft groan behind him caused the teen to peer over his shoulder in an attempt to look at her. She didn't look good from what he could see, she was slumped forward, barely holding onto his back. Before he could nudge her and try to assess the severity of their situation a voice echoed in his head.

" _Hero… chosen by the goddesses… go to the princess locked away in the castle...She holds the key that can unlock you from the shadows…"_ He recognized the voice as Lanaryu but before he could question it, its presence faded, leaving him alone with his ill companion. The teen looked about his surroundings recognizing this place as the field just west of Castle Town, in fact, he could see the castle in the distance. He wondered where Dante was since the half devil hadn't been teleported to join them… He wished he could've asked the spirit before it had departed but there wasn't much to be done now, nor was there any time to spare. Only a moment later and he was off, paws stretching across the dirt in an effort to reach the castle before it was too late.

-Legends-

Why couldn't he stop? Dante fired off one pistol, then the other, swiping with his claws and lashing out with his tail when the demons got to close. He couldn't think, couldn't act beyond looking for the next enemy. And the next one. And the next one. When would it end, there had to be some sort of end to this ocean of enemies… When would it stop? Could it?

-Legends-

Link held his breath as the jar wobbled far too close to the edge of the shelf for his taste before it settled, remaining in its upright position. He let out his breath in a sigh and continued along the shelf, hearing the sounds of the bar beneath him. The cool night air greeted him and he found himself just outside the castle, the shortcut through Telma's bar having proved invaluable in getting to where they needed to go. If he hadn't known about the shortcut he wasn't sure how he was going to be able to get himself and Midna into the castle unharmed. He was about to try and figure a way inside the castle walls when a familiar scent caught his nose. It was one he remembered vividly from his first night as a wolf, he glanced into the shadows to see the princess standing there, hood drawn up against the rain. Midna seemed sense that they'd reached their destination as she slipped from the canine's back, falling to the ground. Link turned back to her frantically as Zelda approached, kneeling next to the wounded imp and resting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Please…" Midna managed "Please tell me… how do we break the curse on this one?" Link tilted his head as she spoke, what did she mean? Did she mean herself? Or did she mean…? Right. There had been people in the bar and not spirits. He wasn't in the Twilight and he was still a wolf. He'd been so caught up in trying to rescue Midna that he hadn't thought about it. "You need him…" Midna continued "You need him to save your world… You have to help him…" Zelda looked up as Midna finished talking and studied him for a moment

"What binds him is a different magic than what transformed him when he first passed the curtain of twilight. It is an evil power. Our world is one of balance… Just as there is light to drive away darkness, so too is there a benevolence to banish evil. Head for the sacred grove that lies deep within the lands guarded by the spirit Faron. There you will find the blade of evil's bane that was crafted by the wisdom of the ancient sages… the Master Sword. The Master Sword is a sacred blade that evil can never touch. Evil cloaks you like a dark veil and that blade is the only thing that can cleave it." she paused then "Like you I've been granted power from the goddesses" she held up her left hand, a golden triangle glowing upon it.

"Fine," Midna said, seemingly satisfied that Link would be helped "Link, you can… you can get to the woods… on your own, right?" her words were labored as she trembled on the wet ground "Princess… I have one last request… can you tell him where to find the Mirror of Twilight?"

"Midna, I believe I understand now just who and what you are." Zelda said "Despite your mortal injuries you act in our stead. These dark times are the result of our deeds yet it is you who have reaped the penalty. Accept this now Midna. I pass it to you…" The princess raised her hands and they began to glow, the light passing over to Midna, who started to squirm, looking shocked

"No! Link! Stop her!" even as Midna said this and Link rose to his feet, the princess vanished before their eyes. There was a moment of silence, Midna standing on her own two feet again. Then she looked back to the teen.

"We go back. Back to Faron Woods."

A/N: Jeeeeeez Zelda talks forever…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	51. Sacred Grove

A/N: So y'know what's kinda funny but also kinda sad? I still haven't done the PA that I was talking about in last weeks' chapter… oops? I'm gonna try to do it today, but who knows… Anywho, I'm just gonna get right on going with the next chapter in this monstrosity of a fic

Disclaimer: Pas mon.

Sacred Grove

The duo had just exited Castle Town when there was a sudden sound behind them. Link turned and could see some sort of barrier enclosing the castle, he growled, the whole thing smelled like Twilight magic and he could feel Midna tense up on his back. She sighed and relaxed, patting his shoulder gently.

"Come on, we've got more important things to worry about right now, I'm sure that the barrier will still be there when we come back. We need to get to the woods and get this curse off of you as soon as we can."

 _Can you teleport us there? It'll be a lot faster._ Link silently asked his companion. Midna mulled it over for a moment, seeming to assess her current magical abilities.

"I think so, you're currently cursed by Twilight magic, which makes it a heck of a lot easier, but we can only go to the portals that still exist." she said

 _That's fine, just take us to the one closest to the Woods._ The wolf responded, a moment later and there was the stomach drop of a teleport. They landed in the Faron Shrine and Link curled his lip as the cold water soaked into the fur of his ankles. He trotted out of the small pond and shook himself off, ignoring Midna's yelp of protest as he did.

 _Where to now?_ He asked, sniffing around the ground, trying to find some hint or clue that would set them on the right path.

"How would I know? You're the one who grew up in this world," Midna said "is there somewhere that is… well I don't know, sacred? Or that you're encouraged to stay away from? I can't imagine that they wanted country bumpkins like yourself wandering around sacred ground." she yawned theatrically and Link growled at her for the comment but set off in the direction of the deeper forest.

-Legends-

The half devil snarled as he felt the pulse of darker power distantly. It was too far away to fight, but he would work his way there, eventually. There was the deep rumble of a more powerful demon and he turned back toward it, lifting his own claws in a challenge to the monster, this fight would take longer than some of the others. Adrenaline pumped thickly through his veins and he couldn't resist the grin that spread across his face, he was going to enjoy this…

-Legends-

Finding the path to the Forbidden Woods hadn't been terribly difficult, Link had vivid memories of Rusl warning him not to go there, and now, as an adult, he could see why. The gorge that separated the Forbidden Woods from the rest of Faron Woods was massive. So massive that Link hadn't been able to see the bottom. Getting across the gorge had been slightly trickier. He and Midna had had to pick their way carefully, leaping from tree branch to tree branch and once to an outcrop of rock that had been home to a particularly _nasty_ group of monsters. But none of that, _none_ of it compared to the frustrating game of hide and seek that he was playing now. Link could understand why the Forbidden Woods were called forbidden, he'd felt lost within moments of stepping foot in them, even trying to trace back his steps with his nose was proving to be difficult as the piles of leaves and undergrowth quickly disguised his trail. The wind whistling almost melodically through the caves and trees only added to the confusion as the hero tried to track down the childlike spirit that continued to evade himself and Midna. At first he thought that the spirit was afraid of him and he wouldn't have necessarily blamed it. But no. The more he chased it down, the more that it would giggle and play its obnoxious little horn and dash off into the trees. Finally, _finally_ Link was able to pin the little bugger down, growling ferociously at it.

"Hee hee…" it giggled, which just caused the hero's hackles to rise and he growled again. "'Bye…" with that it vanished from beneath his grip, a new pathway appearing within the grove as well. Link just sat back and tilted his head, more than a little confused, had the little spirit been the guardian of the Sacred Grove? He entered the sunny grove hesitantly, looking over his shoulder at Midna who just shrugged.

"I'm just as baffled as you are." she said. Link looked at the floor, noticing the pattern of the triforce half buried beneath the moss and stepped into it. There was a brilliant flash and both of the statues on either side of the closed door lit with blue light.

" _Who requests entry to the Sacred Grove?_ " The voices intoned, ancient and rumbling like the stones themselves.

" _The bearer of the Triforce of Courage._ " Link responded, lifting his head. He'd been running from his destiny for too long. It was time to own up to his title. " _This is my companion, the Twilight Princess._ " He tilted his head toward Midna who shifted, startled, how had he known?

" _We see your gift of the goddesses and acknowledge it, you may enter."_ Both statues raised and lowered their staffs and the door behind them opened to grant them access to the resting place of the Master Sword.

A/N: Alright, I've got a hot cup of tea and work to do, so I'm going to just wrap this up here, I hope everyone has an excellent week and

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	52. Master Sword

A/N: Y'know, someday I'll start writing longer chapters… I get a lot of reviews that are just like "short and cute!" and I keep saying that I'll write longer chapters… and then I'm just like… nah I'll do it when I edit the whole thing and then it sits on the backburner forever and never gets touched again… whoops? Someday… someday…

Disclaimer: after fifty chapters and I'm still doing this?

Master Sword

Link looked around as they entered the grove, it was silent here and there was an overwhelming sensation of _peace_. Resting in the center of the grove was a small pedestal, the stone overgrown with moss. Within it was what could only be the Master Sword. The blade appeared untouched by the ages that had passed since the last time it'd been swung, the metal gleamed and the guard hadn't rotted away. The only way that Link could tell that it hadn't been placed there yesterday was the fact that the stone it was resting within was crumpling with age. He padded up to it cautiously, even the sounds of his footfalls sounding loud in the silence of the grove. He stopped directly before the blade, sniffing at it; he could feel Midna lean forward in her own curiosity until the blade gave a brilliant gleam, the force of its power knocking Midna from his back. Link growled as he held his ground, pushing back against the power of the sword. The blade flared brighter in response and he snarled, practically _feeling_ the curse being peeled back from him.

Then, suddenly, it was over, the curse losing its grip and the teen winced as the transformation ripped rapidly through his bones. He was left on his hands and knees, breathing heavily from the shock, he looked up at the blade which now sat inertly in its pedestal and got to his feet. There was a single moment of pause, one second to hold onto the person he had been before accepting his destiny and then he grabbed the blade. Despite the fact that it had been sitting in the stone for an untold age it came free easily and the hero held it up, looking as the gleaming blade caught the sunlight. He brought it back down and observed it closer, it was beautiful, not that he had a lot of blades to compare it to but all the same, it seemed a cut above the rest, Dante's massive greatsword included. When he looked back down at the pedestal, a simple wooden scabbard lay propped against it. He raised a brow and picked it up, replacing his old sword with the new one, glad to be standing on two feet again.

"The sword accepted you as its master…" Midna sounded surprised and he turned to look at her, a single brow raised

"Was there ever any doubt?" he asked

"Yeah, I've seen you swing that beat up one around, there was plenty." she teased, Link rolled his eyes and slid the sword into the scabbard that was now on his back and walking over to where she floated. She smirked and lifted a hand, something dark floating above it.

"This thing is the embodiment of the evil magic that Zant cast on you." she said. The teen eyed it curiously "It's definitely different from our tribe's shadow magic…" she continued, looking up when Link leaned closer "Careful, if you touch it, you'll turn back into a beast. It's quite dangerous, it's probably best if we just left it here huh…" she spun it in her hand, a devious smile on her face.

"What're you thinking?" Link asked, a brow tilting upward.

"Well… if we kept it, you'd be able to transform whenever you wanted to..." she said slowly and Link grinned in understanding "I mean it would be rude of us to turn down this gift that Zant was kind enough to give us, we should be thankful and use it for all it's worth!" she finished, clenching her fist and the crystal disappearing with it. The teen nodded

"Sounds like a plan. But… can you take it back if you use it again?" he asked, Midna inspected the crystal again.

"With the power of the Master Sword behind you, I should be able to. Just let me know when you need it."

"I'm not eager to be running on four legs for a while." Link said "But I'll keep that in mind." He paused "So, where are we headed to next?" Midna bit her lip

"I was about to ask you… there's this thing called the Mirror of Twilight, it's supposedly hidden here in Hyrule, it's the last link we have to Zant…"

"Of course, but we may want to find Dante first, I'm a little worried that we haven't seen him in a while."

"Yes, we should figure out what happened to him." she turned back to him then "Link… how did you know? About who I am I mean?" she asked and the teen just grinned

"It's in how you carry yourself, it was mostly a lucky guess, but you have the same regal air that Zelda does." he said, both of them saddening at the mention of the princess' name.

"Well you're not wrong… I was the Twilight princess…"

"And you will be again." Link said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, a sudden determined fire burning in her eyes.

"Thank you. Now, let's go find that hunter, shall we?" she asked, Link nodded as she dove for his shadow and turned to face the outside world again.

A/N: I know, I know, again I'm a little short but I've got to move onto other things for today, like big time. I'm running so behind…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	53. Tracking

A/N: I might not need the cutscenes to reference for this chapter… which would be nice, it means that I wouldn't have to keep switching between that and my music as I write, which while annoying is kinda necessary 'cause sometimes I forget the order in which things come up… Anyway, there was no chapter last week cause it was Youma this past weekend and I was busy trying to shove my cosplay together and make it slightly more finished than it would have been. So yeah, I got lots of compliments though so success?

Disclaimer: I, shockingly, own neither.

Tracking

The air itself seemed fresher outside the sacred grove, as it the grove itself was suspended in a time long ago. Link wouldn't be surprised if it actually was, most of the stories about the shrine and the Master Sword that he'd heard growing up as a kid took place in ancient history. He looked up at the point where the skull kid had danced around with his stupid little horn and made a face. Thankfully the little imp was nowhere to be seen and birds chirped softly in the background of the peaceful woods. Link heard Midna call out from somewhere near his shoulder, her form incorporeal without the shadow magic that had wrapped around him as a wolf.

"So how do we find Dante?" she asked softly and Link paused, uncertain himself of how to answer that question.

"Well…" he scratched the back of his head and looked around "I don't really know. I mean we should at least get out of the forbidden woods but beyond that… I'm not really sure how to hunt down just one person, he could be literally anywhere…"

"Do you think that he returned to his own world?" Midna asked, the ghostly feeling of her hand on his shoulder alerting the teen to her presence. He looked up at the sky, it was mid-afternoon based on the color, though he couldn't see the sun through the canopy.

"Maybe, but we should try something…" he said, wandering forward, through one of the tunnels and felt his foot connect with something on the ground. The teen looked down curiously, brushing the leaves off of the object only to find one of Dante's firearms.

"I don't think he would've left this…" he muttered, picking it up and looking it over, making note of the blood that was splattered near the end of it. The hero paused, feeling Midna's curiosity float through him and then after a moment's indecision he made up his mind.

"I think we'll be using that stone sooner than we both thought." he said and Midna's shadow popped up in front of him.

"We will?" she asked, the black and orange crystal floating in her hand.

"I can try to track Dante down from this," Link lifted the firearm "it's the best chance we've got right now."

"Alright, you ready?" she asked, hovering a little higher. Link took a deep breath and then nodded

"Yeah."

"Here goes nothing." Midna floated the crystal into his chest and Link grunted as the transformation fell over him. He was a little surprised that it was a lot faster than it used to be, there was only the briefest moments of pain and then he stood on four legs rather than two. He shook himself out, it was almost disorienting how much faster it was.

"You okay?" Midna asked, settling hesitantly on his back.

" _Yes, it's just a lot faster now, hurts a little less because it's so quick._ " he responded before turning his nose to the firearm in front of him. The blood on the end of it wasn't Dante's, which while relieving also made it harder for the wolf to pick up the half devil's scent.  
"You got the scent?" Midna asked, half reaching for the firearm.

" _Yeah, I think so_." Link nodded, lifting his nose to the air and was surprised to find the smell of blood much more prominent in the area. Blood that he didn't recognize as human or monster… it was something else, something he had never come across before… he put his nose back to the ground, trying to track the half devil's scent through the thick smell of blood. He hadn't even been at it for an hour when he came across a body, at least he thought it was a body, the thing was so mangled that it was hard to tell. He wrinkled his nose at it, it was so torn to shreds that he couldn't make out what it had looked like before to say whether he had seen this type of monster or not. A few minutes later he found another, and then another, soon enough the wolf was dancing around corpses as there were more of them than there was open ground to walk upon.

" _What happened here…?_ " Link wondered, feeling Midna clench the fur on his back the farther they got into the carnage ahead of them.

"Do you think Dante did this?" she asked as they passed the body of an unfamiliar monster that had had its head ripped clean off its shoulders.

" _I don't know… I wonder what called for this… cruelty…_ " he answered before pausing, ears perked up, he could hear the sounds of battle up ahead of him. " _Can you turn me back?"_ he asked, Midna didn't say anything but he immediately felt the curse pull out of his body. He winced as he climbed to his feet but he could still hear the sounds of battle up ahead of him. The hero pulled the Master Sword from his back and started forward, putting his shield in front of himself as the sounds got louder… He tensed as he passed through another tunnel and could see movement and then he stopped.

Dante was in his demonic form, surrounded by a half a dozen demons and snarling furiously at all of them. The hunter was covered in blood and gore but that didn't seem to bother him as he ripped through the demons one by one as they leapt forward. He made short work of them and then made no hesitation as he rushed the hero…

A/N: Cliffhangers… can't seem to get enough of them :p

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	54. Demons

A/N: I'm trying something a little different today, I'm doing little bits of each of the things on my to-do list and then going back and doing a little bit more of each thing, I don't know if it'll work any better than how I normally do it but it's something different, and it's good to change things up now and again. Anyway, I don't think anyone's going to read this, so I might as well get all the things started.

Disclaimer: Still.

Demons

Link felt pain shock up his arm as Dante collided with this shield, but that was quickly brushed aside as he dodged backward from the half devil who showed no signs of stopping and charged again. He dodged again, uncertain of how to respond to the hunter appearing to have lost his mind.

"Dante!" he said, continuing to avoid the other man's attacks. "Dante, it's me! Link!" the only response that the hero got was a roar and a slash of claws. Link swore under his breath as they clipped the edge of his arm, it stung horribly but thankfully it was a relatively shallow wound and the teen was back to dodging and blocking as the half devil continued his brutal attack.

"What should I do?" he asked Midna as he continued to play the defensive trying to keep them within the small clearing that he'd found the hunter in as he wasn't exactly keen on trying to dodge the trees in addition to the half devil.

"How should I know? It looks like he went crazy…" she said

"Thanks for the oof! Obvious information!" Link managed and Dante's tail slammed into his shield again. "I don't want to hurt him…" he said as he disengaged for a brief moment before the half devil was back on him, seeming tireless in his assault.

"Well he clearly doesn't feel the same way," Midna said from behind him, Link could feel the worry radiating off of her as he dodged around the claw attack that came swinging his way "I'm sure that he'll forgive you if you hit him a couple times, plus he heals quickly…" she said in way of justification. Link winced as another swipe nicked him, she did have a point, and it was that or let himself get torn apart by the other man's claws. Judging on the corpses that they'd come across on their way here, he'd take his chances with Dante being pissed at him later. He braced himself as the half devil charged once more, shoving back with his shield just as the hunter made impact. Dante took half a step back, pushed off-balance and that was all the opening Link needed. He leapt over the other man's head, slashing with the Master Sword and cursing to himself as it sparked off of a horn and tore a wing rather than slicing through shoulder muscle as he'd intended. The hunter roared as the blade made contact and had already pivoted as Link landed on his feet once more, bringing his shield up just in time to block the punch that was directed his way. As it was it pushed him backward several feet toward the edge of the clearing from the force of the blow. He had enough time for a single breath and then feinted around the half devil's next strike, dealing out one of his own and catching him in the arm. The Master Sword thankfully cut through the thick hide that protected the hunter in his demonic form and the half devil snarled in pain.

Link took the small opening that he had, pushing forward, striking again and again and again. Some of his blows were knocked aside by Dante's claws or couldn't find purchase through the natural armor but many of them cut deeply into flesh. But however, as quickly as he could damage the other man, he healed just as quickly, a benefit that Link found himself envying heavily as the battle progressed. The wounds that he had endured at the beginning of the fight were starting to throb and he continued to collect small nicks and bruises as they continued. He had to finish this… somehow… and quickly… He dodged to the side of the hunter only to get slapped away by a wing and tumbled back, rolling over his shoulder so that he ended up on his knees rather than his back. This paid off immediately as he brought his shield up to catch a clawed foot as it came down above his head. He grunted and shoved upward, hearing Dante go flailing backward and fall onto his back. Link leapt up, knowing that this was likely his only chance and plunged the Master Sword straight down. Straight into the hunter's chest.

For a few seconds there was only the sound of his own breathing and then Link took a moment to register what he'd done in the heat of the moment. Dante had gone still, his face contorted into a snarl. The leaves that were still in the area crunched as Link fell back onto his rear, worrying his lip, he hadn't meant to kill him…

"There was nothing else you could have done…" Midna said softly "He wasn't going to stop…"

"I know, but I just feel like I could've gotten through to him…" the teen said with a sigh.

"You did…" Both of them jumped at the sound of Dante's voice behind them. Link turned slowly to look over in the hunter direction, the demonic form had dropped and the Master Sword still stuck up into the air.

"You… you're still alive." the hero managed

"Yup, can you please take this thing out of my chest, being impaled is getting to be far too common for my tastes…"

A/N: That last bit feel awkward but I ended up writing it on a different day so… yeah… it is what it is

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	55. Memories

A/N: This is getting started far too late in the week for my tastes but… thanksgiving's this week and work has been absolutely crazy because of it… yeah… anyway, hopefully I'll have this finished up today, if not… well then I'm going to have a busy weekend trying to get it done then.

Disclaimer: I don't even own this laptop so…

Memory

"You… what?" Link managed, still staring blankly at the half devil who was still pinned to the ground.

"Just… please take this out." Dante said, pointing awkwardly at the sword in his chest "It's caught on bone, I don't think I can get it myself…" Link felt his stomach turn a little bit at that thought but got to his feet, placing a foot over Dante's shoulder to give himself the leverage to yank the sword out. The only reaction that the hunter gave was a grunt as the blade left his flesh, a fresh tear adorning his shirt and the blood staining it being the only proof of the wound after a moment. Dante inspected the hole with a grimace and then sighed and stretched.

"Is there anything you can't survive?" Midna asked with a raised brow, floating hesitantly near the duo.

"I don't know." the hunter said, rubbing the back of his head, taking several deep breaths, readjusting to the unimpeded movement of his chest. He looked to the teen who seemed a little spacey, he put a hand on the kid's shoulder and Link jolted slightly, his eyes focusing on the half devil

"You good kid?" he asked, Link just looked at him, a slight tremble in his hands.

"Are you?" he shot back, Dante blinked and thought back, to a few moments prior and had a hard time thinking through the bloody haze that filled those memories, he looked back to the teen who was eyeing him warily.

"Yes. What happened?" he asked and Midna just tilted her head at him

"We could ask you the same thing. Why on earth did you just go off like that?" she asked, floating closer and looking him up and down. Dante thought back

"I was… I was looking for the source of some demonic energy that was in this forest but… I don't know what came over me…" he paused for moment and looked down at his fingers, shifting them to claws and back, the change completely under his control once more. He hadn't felt that out control of his demonic side for years now, the last time had likely been… probably his fight with Mundus, but even that was different than this. He looked back up to the duo sitting in front of him, Link had gone back to looking at the blood coating his sword, a different sword than he had before.

"Link." he said and the teen looked over in his direction "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked and Link took a deep breath

"I just… well I didn't mean to…"

"I'm fine, it's not the first time that I've been impaled like that, at least in this situation I probably deserved it." he said "Besides, this isn't the first time that you've killed something."

"Those were monsters." Link said simply "It's different." Dante didn't miss the slight flinch that Midna gave, but didn't respond to it at the moment, there'd be time later, he thought.

"Best get used to it, I'm sure it won't be the first time that you have to go for the kill against something that isn't a simple monster." he said and then looked around the clearing for Rebellion and upon not seeing it he called out to her, the Devil Arm responding to his call and flying back to his waiting grip. He sighed as the length of demonic steel was back in his grip and placed the sword back on its rightful place on his back. The sense of comfort disappeared the second that he reached for his guns though and came up empty. Where were they…? Link noticed his panic and reached into the pouch at his side.

"Looking for these?" he asked, proffering the firearms. Dante blinked in surprise

"Where'd you find them?" he must've been really far gone to let go of Ebony and Ivory, they were such a part of himself and a history that he tried not to let himself forget.

"On the ground, I uh… I sniffed them out." the teen said, looking away from the half devil. Dante just raised a brow at this.  
"In your human form?" he asked curiously. Link shook his head and then looked to Midna who produced a dark pulsing crystal.

"We got the last piece of the Fused Shadow, Zant showed up, he cursed me, we went to the Sacred Grove and I used the Master Sword to break it. We kept the magic though, I can change when I want to. It's… a part of me now. It has its uses." he said softly. Dante looked over to Midna and the crystal that floated over her palm.

"I missed a lot didn't I?" he said simply. Midna grinned, a single fang poking out as she did.

"Oh yeah, but we've got another objective now," she said "we need to find the Mirror of Twilight."

"And what does that do?" Dante asked "I thought we were good with this Fused Shadow." he almost regretted asking when both of their faces fell

"It… it wasn't powerful enough. But there's power in the Twilight Realm, if we can go there and get it… it might be enough, but we need to get there first, and for that, we need the Mirror." Midna clenched her fist.

"What do you think about all this kid?" Dante asked Link who had started cleaning the blade that the hunter now assumed was the Master Sword. Link looked up at him, fierce determination in his eyes.

"I don't want Zelda's sacrifice to be in vain."

A/N: kinda filler but…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	56. Next Step

A/N: Actually kinda on top of things today, for once, so maybe I'll be all caught up with the things that I want to be by the time I go to bed tonight, maybe. This doesn't happen often but I can hope… Also I managed to catch up on all of the stuff for my original works this morning, thank god, I was starting to get really behind in all of that, so it's good that I finally buckled down and wrote what I needed to. Now onto this one!

Disclaimer: ugh

Next Step

"What sacrifice?" Dante asked, rising to his feet and placing Ebony and Ivory back in their holsters after a quick, comforting spin in his palms. It still made him uneasy that he'd let go of them, thank goodness for the teen's sharp nose…

"Zant… when he cursed Link he… he exposed me to the light." Midna said "Zelda…" there was a heavy pause here "she used her own power to save me, she disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Dante raised a brow "I'm not entirely certain I follow."

"She used all of her power and just sort of… disintegrated…" Link said "It was magic that's far beyond anything I know of, I'm not sure if it's possible for her to come back?" he looked over at Midna, who just worried a lip.

"I'm not certain, I can feel a bit of her spirit with me, but light magic isn't exactly my speciality…" she said.

"Okay, so we have a crazy maniac who's trying to reassert his power, the thing we risked our lives to collect the pieces of isn't strong enough, the princess who was the only one in charge of the country is probably dead, there's still a demonic presence in this world, and our only hope is a magic mirror? Did I miss anything?" Dante sighed, ticking things off one at a time on his fingers. Link laughed a little when he said this

"When you put it that way, it does seem a little hopeless doesn't it?" he sheathed the Master Sword at his back

"We just need to go to the Twilight," Midna said "my people have access to darker powers, and… well what's the phrase, fight fire with fire?" she grinned "Besides, the overarching goal hasn't changed, it's still to defeat Zant."

"Fair point. Not to mention, I've been faced with worse odds." Dante grinned. "So, where to next?"

"We may want to speak with Telma, she said that there's people in her bar who could help us." Link pointed out

"It's a good as place as any to start, 'sides, I could use a drink." the hunter said, running a hand through his hair and then looking at it in disgust as he was reminded of the guts that covered him. "Also a dunk in the nearest body of water." he muttered. Midna just laughed and Link pulled out his map.

"Midna, do you know of all the points that we have portals?" he asked. The imp peered over the map.

"Roughly, where do we need to go?"

"Wait, are we teleporting again?" Dante asked, feeling his stomach turn at just the idea of teleporting. Midna just grinned at him.

"Seeing as both of you can transform at will now, I don't see any reason not to, time is of the essence so it's better to teleport and immediately reach our destination rather than dawdle about on the road for weeks. She said. The half devil sighed

"Alright, I suppose I can manage…" he grumbled.

"Can we teleport in around here?" Link pointed on the map and Midna looked over his shoulder.

"At least within a days' ride." she agreed and then looked over to the hunter. "You ready?" she asked. Dante sighed again

"As much as I'll ever be, let's go." he said, energy crackling over his skin as he transformed, the action once again under his own control. Midna pulled out the dark crystal once again and pushed it toward the teen's chest. Link grunted and half a second later a black and white wolf stood in his place. Dante raised a brow

"Nifty." he said, Link's only response was to sit on his haunches before Midna's magic enveloped them both.

-Legends-

They landed outside castle town with little fuss and Dante turned toward the direction of the town when he noticed that Link wasn't following. He turned and noticed the teen standing on two legs again, brushing himself off before turning in a slightly different direction.

"Kid, where're you going?" he asked, Link looked over at him.

"I have to go meet my mentor again." he said and the half devil raised a brow.

"Is this that thing where you go unconscious and then only half remember the experience again?" he asked and Link nodded. Dante sighed

"Well carry on then, I guess. Can I meet you in town?" he asked and the teen nodded rather blankly again.

"Don't go crazy this time." Midna called after him. Dante rolled his eyes and waved them off, starting in the direction of Castle Town, but deep down he was worried about that too. What had caused him to lose himself like that? Was it just the fate of all half breeds to lose themselves to their demonic heritage? He couldn't think like that, he shook his head, he needed to go to town, be around people, get a drink, feel a bit normal. Well, as normal as he could in this foreign land. He just hoped he'd be able to find a way home after this was all over…

A/N: Alright, I'm going to cut it there, I know it's a little short, but I really lost my momentum after this morning, yay for putting out other people's metaphorical fires! Anyway, it's not a bad stopping point either and we're almost back to plugging through the actual story, who knows how much longer this will go on… *shrugs*

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	57. Telma's Bar

A/N: Alright… time to do some more writing, been surprisingly busy today… like really surprisingly busy. So… I suppose I should just get on with this then…

Arbiter3670: I'm glad you like it so far :) I wasn't really planning on any romance in this story, sorry, thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: Poo.

Telma's Bar

Dante sighed as he walked back into Telma's bar. The air had a familiar feel to it, despite being in a different world, a bar was still a bar and the half devil felt himself relax as the atmosphere draped over him like an old quilt. He wandered up to the bar, surprised to see Telma manning it once again.

"Finally left that dusty town behind?" he asked, pulling out a barstool and resting his chin in his hands. Telma just laughed at him, sliding some sort of drink in front of him without asking. The hunter lifted it to his nose for a quick sniff before taking a sip. It had some sort of honey base and left a pleasant burn in the back of his throat, he grinned and took another sip.

"I couldn't leave the bar unattended for too long, I think the soldiers might actually work up the courage to come after me if I did." she jested, sliding another drink in front of a different customer.

"Those louts? You think so?" Dante teased, Telma laughed and gave him a wink, shuffling around the small tavern to collect and disperse drinks in equal measure. Dante nursed his own as she did, thinking on how quickly things had changed for him. He had gone from living mission to mission and then all of a sudden he was in a whole different world where the rules were different and people had no clue who the Son of Sparda even was. He couldn't say that it wasn't a little refreshing to be just another nobody on the street. People gave him some odd looks, for sure, but he'd been getting those his whole life. He sipped at the sweet drink and just enjoyed the time to relax and unwind, he's worry about where they were actually going in a bit. Telma sighed and plopped down on the stool next to him.

"So are you here to meet the rest of the Resistance?" she asked, pouring a drink for herself and knocking it back just as quickly.

"I'll wait until the kid gets here." he said, sliding his glass over for a refill. She obliged, sliding the glass back to him with a practiced air.

"That makes sense, no use in having introductions twice right?" she said

"Right." they were both quiet for a few moments, the gentle murmur of conversation lulling around them. The whole bar had the feel of safety to it, like things rarely ever changed here, and having been here when the town was under the cover of the Twilight, Dante could tell that that feeling had some credibility to it.

"So… where is Link anyway?" Telma said when the silence turned from comforting to slightly awkward. Dante sighed, thinking back to what the teen had said when they'd split ways.

"He's off… training, in a way." he said. During one of their many nights around their campfire the teen had tried to describe what those meetings were and had always had a really hard time doing so.

"Hmm… and you're not invited?" Telma asked with a grin, Dante rolled his eyes

"Sitting and meditating is not exactly my style of training. So even if there was an open invitation, don't think I'd be taking him up on it, but it seems to help him out plenty so… hey all power to him." Dante sighed then leaned back and stretched before looking over at Telma. "I don't suppose you have any food in this joint?" he asked, trying to think back to the last time he actually ate, he couldn't remember what had happened when he'd lost himself to his demonic instincts and didn't want to think too closely on the potential of that either.

"Of course, let me just tell my cook that he's got a few orders, poor sap's probably asleep back there." she joked as she got back to her feet, walking back around the bar and shouting into the back. Dante smiled and took another sip of his drink.

-Legends-

It was only a few hours before Link came wandering in, looking tired but accomplished. He caught sight of the half devil and joined him standing at the bar.

"Hope I didn't miss too much?" he asked, adjusting one of his bracers before leaning on it again.

"Good food and a couple rounds of drinks." Dante said, Telma made note of the teen having wandered in and passed by the pair as she went about her business, stopping long enough to say

"I'll put in a food order for you honey, if you two want to make your way to the back, most of the groups' already there, other than Ahsei, but she'll be back."

"Um, thanks…" Link said, apparently unaccustomed to having someone waiting on him as he fidgeted. Dante stood, adjusting Rebelion on his back and patted the teen's shoulder.

"C'mon, let's go meet this Resistance, see if they'll be of any help to us." he said with a small sigh.

"Okay." the duo made their way to the back of the bar, passing by weary looking soldiers as they did, as they rounded the corner to a secluded back table Link's face lit up.

"Rusl!" he said, moving forward to hug the man who was just getting to his feet. "I didn't know that you'd made your way to Castle Town!" The other man just smiled, returning the teen's enthusiastic greeting.

"I couldn't let Hyrule suffer on its own, now, let me introduce you to the Resistance."

A/N: Okay, I know this is a bit short but I've got training that starts in five minutes so I figured it'd be best to wrap this up.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	58. The Resistance

A/N: *sighs* man, just not feeling anything today… maybe spending the entire morning digging through paperwork for a particular discrepancy has a lot to do with that. Maybe pausing to write this will help me get my feet back under me, at least I hope it will. Anywho I need to get this going again, otherwise I'm going to end up ignoring it completely so… here we go…

Disclaimer: I do not own either of these enterprises, hope that's cool

The Resistance

Just as Rusl had stood up to introduce the rest of the group a young woman pushed her way past Dante to sit at one of the empty chairs and eyed the duo with a distinct look of wariness.

"Ashei, welcome back." one of the others said, Rusl sighed lightly at the distraction, shaking his head before starting again.

"The one who just walked in is Ashei," he said, Ashei nodded at them, remaining silent "the one with the glasses is Shad." Shad stood up at his name, nearly stumbling over his own feet in order to shake hands with both of them

"Yes, yes, it's a pleasure to meet both of you, Link, Rusl has told us about you, and…" he turned to Dante then "I don't think I know you at all, but I'm eager to change that!"

"Uh… pleasure." Dante said, shaking the man's hand, most people weren't so eager to get to know him. If the strange appearance didn't drive them away, the massive sword slung across his back usually did the trick.

"Then there's Auru," Rusl interrupted the over-eager young man, who sat back down, looking slightly embarrassed. The one that had to be Auru also nodded at them but appeared less cold than Ashei had.

"Nice to meet you." Auru said pleasantly. Rusl turned back to the two of them then

"And I know you've already met Telma," he said "and I'm Rusl." he held his hand out to Dante "I heard that Link was travelling with someone else but I don't think we've met yet."

"I don't think we have." Dante said, taking the other man's hand firmly. There was curiosity in those eyes, no suspicion… not yet anyway.

"Well please, sit, we can discuss plans, what is happening, do either of you have more information on what happened in the castle?" Rusl fired off questions at the two of them so quickly that Dante was sure that he was going to get whiplash from it. He blinked several times and then looked to the teen sitting next to him who just sighed.

"The magic that surrounds the castle right now is from the Twilight, it's a world that lies directly next to our own." Link said calmly, Shad looked up then

"I think I've read on some of them! Only briefly, they're not mentioned much, it's home to a tribe that used forbidden magic isn't it?" the bookish young man asked, Link nodded

"Yes, and there's a power there, I need to get passed the barrier in front of the castle, meaning that I need to get to the Twilight. However there is a mirror that allows passage between the two realms. The Mirror of Twilight. I need to get it…" the teen said, looking determined and hopeful. Most of the group looked confused, but Shad looked excited.

"I can look into where the resting place of this artifact is, we can help you find it." he said with a nod. The group looked to Dante then and he raised a brow for a moment then leaned forward from his relaxed position.

"It's not only that. I'm looking for something that is… personally important. If there's any areas that are particularly infested with monsters, strange monsters at that, I'd like to know about that, help solve that problem." the half devil said, hoping that more than one set of eyes would help him track down the source of demonic energy that was seeping into this world, and if he could find that, maybe he could find his way home. He never thought he'd miss the dingy office of Devil May Cry, but he definitely was now. Ashei looked up then, her dark eyes looking just as suspicious as when she'd walked in but she spoke up now

"I can help you with that." she said. Then she rose to her feet and left without another word. Dante watched her go

"Is she that cold with everyone?" he asked after the tavern door clicked shut, Auru just sighed

"Yes." he said "Don't know why, but I can tell you she doesn't mean anything by it. Why don't we break for the evening, Shad, you think that you can have information for Link by tomorrow afternoon?"

"I'm going to need some tea, it's going to be a long night," Shad sighed "but I think I can do that."

"Perfect," Rusl said with a smile "we'll meet here tomorrow afternoon, Link, Dante, Telma's already got rooms set up for the two of you upstairs, go get some rest."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Dante said, finishing the last dregs of his drink, collecting a key from Telma and starting up the stairs. Link caught up with him shortly and looked over his shoulder as they continued to the room that Telma had set up.

"This it? We're just going to… wait? I thought there wasn't a moment to spare in trying to defeat Zant…" he said, Dante just grinned and clapped him on the shoulder

"Sometimes kid you gotta let other people play to their strengths, especially when it comes to something that might take you even longer to do on your own. Now let's get some rest, you probably need it after spending what… several days underwater?" Link sighed, Midna let out a small feeling of comfort from the back of his mind

"Dante's right Link, it doesn't help any of us if you push yourself too hard, go get some rest."

A/N: Alright, a day late but I got it done, now to move on to some other things I've got to get done…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	59. Mission Statement

A/N: Man, I am really ahead of the game this week but somehow it still doesn't really feel like I am. Either way, I need to get this pumped out cause I'm _finally_ watching the second season of Attack on Titan and oh boy did I forget how good the action in that show is, I really want to get back to it, so without further ado, the chapter:

Disclaimer: I own nothing that I reference.

Mission Statement

The next morning saw the duo waking well rested for once not dragged out of sleep by each other or monsters closing in on them. Dante yawned and stretched, looking forward to a warm breakfast from downstairs, he looked over to see Link slipping chainmail over his head and moving to put his varying belts and armor back on.

"I think it can probably wait until after breakfast." Dante said, teasing the teen lightly, he knew that the armor was a necessity for the kid, apparently being chosen by the goddesses didn't include any sort of godly protection from damage, something that the half devil thought was a load of crock.

"I want to be able to get going as soon as I can, who knows, wherever I'm going may take me weeks to get to. I'll need to get moving if I want to get there in any reasonable amount of time." Link said, finishing lacing his boots and getting to his feet, tapping on against the floor to make sure that everything settled properly. "Besides I just feel… more like me when I have it all put on." he added quietly.

"I get that." Dante said, grabbing his worn leather coat from where he'd draped it over the end of the bed, the poor thing had seen better days, even his old one from when he was a teenager himself had been tossed before it'd gotten this bad. But then again, he'd had access to a place to get a new one at that time, plus with the ruins of the Temen Ni Gru sitting in the middle of the city and scaring half the clientele away he'd been able to get one heck of a deal on the new one. "Never feel quite the same without my coat or my guns. Or my sword." He looked at Rebellion before placing the weapon on his back. "She's seen me through lots of adventures."

"Where'd you get it?" Link asked as he slid the Master Sword into its sheath, Dante smiled

"It was a present from my dad, back when I was a kid, she's been a good companion ever since."

"Right, isn't that one of those Devil Arms?" Midna asked as the two men made their way to the door. "You said that some of them were more or less possessed weapons."

"She is, was loyal to my father way back in the day, now she belongs to me, I've certainly proved myself over the years." he said, closing the door behind them and they made their way downstairs. Auru and Ashei were already waiting for them down at the table that they had been at last night.

"Took you long enough." Ashei said over a mug of… something, Dante wasn't sure if it was water or ale but he made no comment to that and pulled back a seat.

"I haven't slept in a bed in ages, you can't blame me for wanting to enjoy it." he said with a grin. Link just rolled his eyes at the half devil's antics.

"Auru, did Shad give you the information that you needed?" the teen asked the older man, who shook his head.  
"I checked on him late last night and he seemed to be onto something but I haven't heard from him yet this morning, Rusl is going to check on him now and see if he's got the info we need. Telma's got her poor chef working double time to get breakfast going for us." he said and Link smiled, to be honest, his stomach was rumbling despite the nerves and he wasn't going to argue a hot meal before he hit the road again. Dante turned to Ashei again

"So you said that you'd be able to help out on the monster front." he said, she just gave a curt nod.

"Yes, I've been talking to the Zora's near the mountain, they've been claiming to see a strange creature come down from the mountain and steal fish from them."

"What kind of creature? More bug-like, some horrific thing full of slime and tentacles, or more dragon like?" Dante started rattling off, Ashei raised an eyebrow at him and said.

"Well I've only heard them talk of glimpses that they've caught, all of them tell me that it's tall, and covered in white fur, one of the Zora's even tried to tell me they saw a saddle on its head, but I'm not sure if I believe that. We'll have to track it up the mountain." she said with a small nod.

"We?" Dante asked.

"Believe me, my tracking skills far surpass yours." she said. Dante blinked a couple times before bursting into laughter.

"Alright, we'll see if you can keep up kid." he said, Ashei looked like she was really annoyed by this statement and looked like she was about to rebuke what the half devil had said when Shad came bursting into the room, arms full of scrolls, followed shortly by Rusl who was picking up the stragglers that fell from the young man's pile.

"I think I've found it!" he said excitedly, dumping the scrolls onto the floor next to the table and digging through them for a specific one before spreading it out on the surface. It was a larger map of the country, showing some of the surrounding land. Shad pointed to one point and everyone leaned over to see what he was pointing at.

"The last known location of the artifact known as the Mirror of Twilight is Arbiter Grounds within the Gerudo Desert!" he said, looking triumphant. Link glanced over the map and the bluffs that separated Lake Hylia and the desert.

"Great. How am I going to get there?" the hero asked. Auru just clapped him on the back.

"You leave that part to me."

A/N: Whew, that went by a lot faster than I was expecting, I forgot how quickly I type at home on my own keyboard. Anyway!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	60. Dungeon

A/N: I'm about to leave, in like, literally five minutes but I'll get going on this anyway, sorry for the delay between the last two chapters, but it was the holidays so hopefully no one holds it against me too much ^^; anywho I'm going to get going with the actual chapter now, need to get it done so I can prep for my D&D campaign tomorrow… DMing is a lot of work…

Disclaimer: Me still no own.

Dungeons

Dante shivered, tried to remember what it was like to be warm. It had been roughly two weeks since he and Link had left Telma's bar. Even when he was inside the mansion it wasn't that warm as both the inhabitants of the mansion were covered with a thick coat of fur. He swung Rebellion with a grunt, the impact of the blade with the possessed wolf shocking up his arms in the cold of the open air, thankfully that was the last one of the pack that had leapt up at him when he'd exited the mansion. The half devil sighed, placing Rebellion on his back and rubbing his hands together, trying to warm the ends of his fingers. He pulled out the map that Yeto had given to him and looked to the point that Yeta had marked off, it was still a couple of rooms away. He hoped that this time it wasn't more random food, the past couple times had made him wonder if Yeta actually knew where this "magic mirror" was or if she was just using him as a gopher so that Yeto could make soup. To be fair it was good soup, but that didn't excuse the fact that he had to fight his way to each ingredient.

"At the very least I'm clearing out the demonic presence here." he grumbled, though if he were able to find the hellgate, or at least the thing that was weakening the veil between the two worlds, then a lot of the demons that were creeping their way through would disappear. He hoped that this "magic mirror" was the very thing that he actually needed to start working his way home, he was starting to get tired of this running around and hoping that _this_ time would be the time that he could go home. Dante was very ready to kick back on his couch back in the beat up office with a beer and reruns of whatever old show his second hand TV could pick up. Now wasn't the time for daydreaming though, he thought with a sigh as he looked at the monster that stood, blocking his entrance back into the building. It jerked in a way that spoke to its icy nature and looked at him with eyes that were full of rage. Dante just smirked

"C'mon you icy bastard, let's dance." he growled as he walked forward. The monster reared back, it's maw opening with a crackling sound, before it could unload on the hunter, he promptly shot it in the face. It paused only briefly before its breath rushed out onto the ground. Dante rolled to the side as it did, coming up with a powerful uppercut from Rebellion, shattering the monster before it could continue it's onslaught. As it crumbled he looked at his coat, part of the fabric was frozen from the monster's breath.

"Okay, yeah, good thing I didn't risk figuring out what that did the hard way." movement in his peripheral vision caused him to tense and he realized that the monster had shattered into much smaller, slightly more mobile versions of itself. He swore under his breath and started back in on them.

-Legends-

"Oof!" Dante grunted as he was slammed against the wall. "Ugh, okay, that wasn't very kind of you." he grumbled at the demon. Said demon didn't respond, simply retracted its fist and prepared to strike again.

"Alright, I see how it is." the hunter said, pulling out his sword and taking a fighting stance of his own.

It wasn't a particularly long fight but the half devil definitely took more hits than he would like to. Once the demon collapsed, it's body fading away, it left behind a glowing orb, Dante grinned.

"Didn't think I'd come across any of these here…" he said, reaching a hand out and touching it. The devil arm solidified in his hands into a large ball and chain, the end glowing cherry hot. Dante gave the hefty weapon a few experimental swings. "Oh I think this'll come in real handy here."

-Legends-

He wasn't quite as cold when he finally reached the door to the room that Yeta had marked on his map as it had been almost non stop fighting on the way. The hunter reached into his coat with a sigh and pulled out the key.

"Please don't be food…" he muttered as the key turned. He blinked when he didn't feel any pins turn and then frowned "Why is the door already unlocked…?" The door opened with a squeak to a rather plain looking bedroom and Yeta stood, looking into a fragment of a rather dark looking mirror. Dante could feel the demonic presence of it from where he stood in the doorway.

"So pretty…" she was muttering to herself as she looked at her reflection. She seemed to notice Dante behind her.

"You… cannot… take. It!" the yeti spun around, her face gone dark as the window above them shattered, ice swirling in to surround her.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Dante said as he prepared for the attack.

A/N: Eh, a little short but, I've got things to go do right now, and this chapter's late anyway, so… yeah.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	61. Arbiter Grounds

A/N: Whew, okay, so I literally just finished the last chapter, did a thing that I needed to do, and now I'm right back at it with another one, then I'll be caught up to this week and can move onto doing more D&D stuff that I should take care of. Why do I DM two campaigns and participate in three more? I don't know, I guess I just hate free time… Anyway, enough about me, let's check back in with the adventure shall we?

Disclaimer: I just did one of these an hour ago, nothing's changed in that time, still don't own.

Arbiter Grounds

Link spat onto the ground again, trying to rid his mouth of the taste of sand. One disadvantage of fighting as a wolf and his primary means of attack being biting things, if said thing was a reanimated corpse that the sand had coated over about a century ago… then your mouth was bound to be filled with sand. He spat again, still feeling the grit in his mouth, he was almost jealous of Dante, whom he'd last seen walking toward a mountain, at least mountains weren't covered in sand and full of corpses…

"I seem to distinctly remember saying that being a wolf in that room was a bad idea." Midna said from his shoulder. Link glared at her.

"Shut up…" he grumbled, wiping his mouth and looking once again at the map that he'd managed to dig up. The map didn't account for the sand that had filled in a lot of the temple but it was certainly better than nothing. He needed to relight those enchanted flames… the thing was, several poes had grabbed them and flown off with them… so far he'd found two.

"So, chances are that they each flew to a different wing." he said "We've explored these two." he pointed on the map. Midna nodded

"That's assuming that they aren't moving around, but each of them likely did go a different direction." she said, leaning closer "You want to go to this one next?"

"If we can figure out how to get into it, sure." Link said as he looked around himself to orient them on the map before starting toward their next destination. "I wish Dante was here, I'd just go to the nearest window and have him fly us up to the top of the structure." he said "I wonder if he's having any luck where he is."

"I'm sure he's having just as much fun as we are." Midna teased "Besides, don't you like the puzzle of finding all the pieces of fire just so we can open the door?" her incorporeal form floated up a little bit "I think this room rotates around, there might be an entrance if we do."

"Oh, yeah, chasing down spirits just so I can open a freaking door is my definition of a good time." Link said as he rolled his eyes. He craned his head back and pulled out the hookshot, latching it onto the lantern in the room above, pulling himself up into the same room as his companion. "Score…" he said as he eyed the mechanism in the middle of the room.

-Legends-

Link sat back on his haunches, panting as the spirit was finally dispelled, screeching one final time before it completely dissipated. Midna was already pulling the curse from his bones and as he reverted to human once more, he flopped down on his back, not even caring about the dirt and grime that covered the room.

"I didn't think I could change that fast." he said as Midna settled gently on the ground next to him, looking slightly worried.

"I'm just glad I was able to fairly accurately predict when you needed one form or the other in the midst of battle." she said, looking at the crystal in her hands before settling it in the same pocket dimension as the Fused Shadow.

"You were fine, I should've said something that first time." Link said, sitting up and taking account of himself now. No massive injuries stuck out to him, a few scratches and bruises, but nothing he couldn't handle. "You all good?" he looked over at Midna, she was always corporeal when he was a wolf.

"I'm fine, are you good? That was a lot of transforming." she said, Link nodded

"It's a lot faster now, doesn't hurt quite as much, plus I was riding that battle high." he said. They both sat in silence for a couple of minutes, the only sound in the tomb their own breathing. Link was the one to break the silence.

"That spirit… the one who showed us this room…" he said, Midna looked over at him "She was awfully young… They said that this place was a prison, she was far too young to have been a prisoner." Link didn't know the history of the area particularly well, most of the books on history back in Ordon were either related to the royal family, or were basic records kept by the small village themselves. Midna paused, looking forward, toward the foreign iconography that covered the walls.

"Every country has dark spots in their past." she said "Who knows what happened here before it became a forgotten relic. Dwelling on it though isn't going to help us now, let's see what the spirit was guarding in that chest huh?" she nudged the teen gently, who sighed heavily before rising to his feet.

-Legends-

"I'm never going to relish the opportunity to make a sand castle again." Link grumbled as he fitted the key into the extravagant lock on the door. Midna just laughed at him, though she had to agree, she didn't think she could step onto the black sands of her home's beaches without wincing at the grittiness.

"I agree, you ready?" she asked before the hero opened the door.

"What for? This is the only way to the top." he said, looking at the map again, just to be sure. Midna rolled her eyes, he could really be dense sometimes.

"Did you not look at those chains before you opened the door, I don't want to know what they had locked up in here." she said, Link gave the door a shove, the ancient gears doing the rest of the work and raising the stone slab.

"Whatever it was, I'm sure that it's long dead." the teen said, walking into the dark room. He squinted in the darkness, just barely able to make out a massive skull in the middle of the room. He lit his lantern only to find Zant standing on top.

A/N: And this one's a little longer to make up for the last chapter's short-ness, and cliffhangers are my favorite.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	62. Into the Past

A/N: Alright, not that more to do for the day, but I've got to get this done so that I can get showered and take care of more DM prep work, I'm trying to get some of the stuff that I have set up on my computer loaded into roll20 since most of us have scattered about the country since we started this campaign… anyway, I'll get started on the chapter now

Disclaimer: I own this about as much as I own the show I'm watching, which is to say, none at all.

Into the Past

Relief, pure sweet relief was all that Dante could feel upon seeing grassy ground again. He knelt down and touched it, feeling the cool blades beneath his fingers. He hadn't even been this relieved when he'd left the Temen Ni Gru, granted it was hard to feel relief beyond the deep rooted sadness of having lost his brother… again, but now… now the air felt a smidge warmer and he couldn't help but tilt his head back and bask in the sun's warmth. It was cool down near the base of the mountain but it was definitely warmer than the biting chill that claimed the mansion near the summit. The half devil glanced up and saw Ashei making her way toward him and he stood to greet her.

"How's it been?" he asked simply when she was in earshot, she looked at him curiously

"The castle is under siege by some dark mystical force and that's what you want to know?" she asked, Dante sighed, the _yetis_ had a better sense of humor…

"Yes, I've been alone for the past two weeks and I want to interact with another human being, is it bad of me to want to know how you, personally, have been doing since we split ways on this godforsaken mountain?" he asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose, he didn't feel bad about finally snapping at the girl, she'd been nothing but doom and gloom since they started and having spent two weeks nearly freezing to death didn't help his temperament. She paused to watch him continue descending the mountain.

"I doubt that you're entirely human, but since you've asked; not terrible, the fish have made a comeback unusual for this time of year." she caught up with him quickly despite her short legs. It was Dante's turn to pause and look after her, it wasn't like he tried to hide his heritage, not anymore, but being in a different world where everyone was so quick to persecute a simple _wolf_ as a monster, well he didn't go around broadcasting the fact that his own father was a demon.

"You don't missing anything do you?" he asked as they walked.

"Never."

-Legends-

Link looked at Castle Town almost lovingly, it had been so long since he'd been with humanity. Midna was great company in the midst of the dungeons that he'd had to progress, and he'd honestly missed Dante's company this time as well, but he was looking forward to hearing the hustle and bustle of the city around him. He had news to share with the group, the mirror had been broken, all that remained in Arbiter Grounds was the frame and the spellwork to activate it. Granted they'd be lost without those items but it was rather useless without the mirror itself. Not to mention he was still reeling from finding out that it wasn't Zant behind the whole charade but Ganondorf, the demon king. Link had grown up hearing stories about him, how in ages past the Hero of Time had been the one to fend him off. Now… now that was a responsibility that was placed squarely on his shoulders. At least this time around, he had help, he thought as he made his way into Telma's bar. The barkeep gave him a broad smile as he entered

"Link! Good to see that you've made it back in one piece! Go on back, Dante just got back this morning! I'll get some food going for you!" Telma shouted over the other customers, and Link couldn't help but smile, looking forward to the warm meal as he made his way to the back and the customary table for the resistance. Dante was nursing something in a mug and Rusl appeared to be telling him a story while Shad tried to ignore them both behind his book. They all stopped when Link walked up to the table. The hushed silence unnerved him.

"What?" he asked, looking from one apprehensive face to another. "What's wrong?" he pulled a chair out and hesitantly sat down. Dante gave a huge sigh.

"Kid… that mirror… it's well… it's broken." he said, looking off to the side as though he expected Link to be upset by this fact. And he had. When he'd found out about it a week ago in the chamber after killing an undead dragon. But now he'd had time to let it sink in and was just looking to finish up this quest.

"I know." the teen said

"I mean I'm more than willing to help you look- Wait. What?" Dante stopped his rambling and looked at the hero

"I know. I found out at Arbiter Grounds. The frame and the spellwork is all that remains there, the spirits told me that there are four pieces and that they were spread across the land to prevent travel between the two worlds. Also to stop Ganondorf from escaping." he explained. Rusl looked up at the mention of the demon king and the look in his eyes could only be described as horrified.  
"The Ganondorf? From the legend of the Hero of Time?" he asked trepidatiously. Link nodded. Dante just leaned forward, one brow raised curiously.

"Who?"

A/N: Alright, I'm going to cut it off there…

'Till next time,

-Winged Element


	63. History

A/N: Soo… this chapter's gonna be late, cause I was stupidly busy last week… like getting stuck at work for an extra two hours busy… ugh… always at the end of the week too… always, anyway, I'll write this and post it, hopefully today, and then write the next chapter too while I'm at it.

Disclaimer: too tired for this… need more coffee.

History

The entire table stared at the hunter who just looked back in confusion, Link sighed, he hadn't thought about the fact that the stories Dante knew probably differed from the ones that the people of Hyrule heard growing up.

"The Demon King?" Shad said slowly, Dante just blinked

"Mundus?" he asked

"What?" Shad said, he adjusted the books on the table before looking back up at the half devil. Dante was lost, he knew that they were discussing some legendary figure, but it wasn't one that he and the kid had discussed in their travels.

"Who are you talking about?" Dante said, it was Rusl who stepped up to the plate to explain the scenario to the clueless hunter.

"Ganondorf was the leader of the Gerudo people a long time ago, he tried to overthrow the kingdom and raise his own monstrous armies to fill it, he was stopped by the Hero of Time. That's the short version anyway." he said "How is it that you've not heard this story before?" Dante looked to Link briefly before saying

"I'm from far away, didn't hear a lot of stories growing up." he said with a shrug. There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence before Link said.

"So he's bad news. Either way, he needs to be stopped. We should collect the rest of the pieces of the Mirror first." the teen laid out the plan "Dante got one of them."

"Yeah, and I don't like the demonic influence it has." the hunter said, thinking back to how it had influenced the normally gentle and soft spoken Yeta into a monster. Auru tilted his head at this information.

"You seem to know a lot about demons." he said, Dante grinned at him.

"Runs in the family, so, Link, what the battle plan, are we splitting up again or are we going to tackle the next one together?" the half devil asked. Link paused.

"To be honest, I don't know where to start for the next piece. You had luck going after the place with the most monster activity didn't you?" the teen asked. Dante just nodded "Okay so… does anyone know of anywhere that has any strange activity going on lately." he continued, looking around the table. Auru raised an eyebrow.

"All of Hyrule has been experiencing strange activity lately." he said to the amusement of the rest of the table.

"I mean more than the rest." Link said with a sigh.

"I already told you all that I had noticed." Ashei said, "But I will keep an eye out for anything else."

"I may have something." Rusl said softly, the attention of the table turned to him. "One of the areas off near the forbidden woods has been experiencing some strange activity lately." Both Link and Dante paused at this and looked at one another. It could have been their recent fight in the area, but then again, it might not be. Link looked back to his mentor

"Can you take us there?" he asked.

"Of course." Rusl said "Do you want to head out now or would you rather wait until tomorrow to head back? It's going to be quite the ride either way." Dante sighed internally, he was tired of sleeping on the road, but there was little to be done about it now, he just kept trying to tell himself that he'd done much worse when he'd travelled through hell. It wasn't really working, as he'd only ever been stuck there for short stints, but the half devil hoped that if he kept lying to himself, that eventually he'd have to believe it. Link's determined face made him think that they were going to be spending the night out on the road anyway.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can collect the Mirror shard… at least hopefully." the Hero said and Dante tried to hide his disappointment that he wouldn't be able to sleep on a bed for the foreseeable future.

-Legends-

They were able to get packed up and on the road in record time. It helped that Telma had had a stablehand pack up their bags and saddle up Epona as soon as they had mentioned heading out tonight. She had also insisted that they eat at the tavern before they go, and a hot meal was something that none of them were going to argue with. They made their way out of Castle Town and onto the open field, heading back toward Ordon once again. The first few hours of their journey were quiet, even when they stopped in the evening to make camp. The silence was comfortable rather than awkward and Dante chalked it up to the fact that Link had been practically raised by Rusl and his wife. As they made camp, Link wandered off into a nearby cluster of trees to heed the call of Mother Nature and probably chat with Midna while he was away from Rusl. As he did, the swordsman turned to Dante.

"Thank you." he said and Dante looked over at him, pausing in dismantling his guns

"What for?" he asked, turning back to his task at hand.

"For looking after him." Rusl nodded in the direction that Link had gone. "I know he's a grown man now but I can't help but worry, it's good to know that he's got someone looking out for him. Even if that person is… exceptionally strange." Rusl went back to caring for his own weapon and Dante couldn't help but snort, that was probably the most mild description he'd received in a while.

"I couldn't just leave him to fight the darkness by himself, that wouldn't be fair."

A/N: I know this is a weird spot to leave off but I've got to go and the next chapter will probably drop sometime later today, so… there?

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	64. Forests Near Home

A/N: Alright, this one, and then one more, then I'll be caught up to this week… I haven't been this behind in a long time, but I'll quit complaining about it and just start getting caught up.

Disclaimer: Still not mine

Forests Near Home

Most of the journey was fairly quiet, Link was used to travelling with Rusl and thus the pair of them didn't speak much but the lack of conversation was odd for Dante. The teen was beginning to wonder if the hunter was okay as he was beginning to have a melancholy air about him. He finally asked about it around the fire one night.

"I'm fine kid. Not my first rodeo." the hunter said, cleaning the blood from Rebellion that remained from a fight with monsters earlier in the day.

"I can tell that you're not. Something about you is off." Link said, giving the half devil a challenging look that Dante met easily. Rusl sat in silence across the flames, watching the duo with something close to amusement on his face. Dante glanced at the swordsman briefly

"I miss home." he said finally "I want to go back to the shop, relax and listen to Lady gripe at me about money. I've been gone for… what a couple months now? I'm ready to go home, most of my missions don't take this long. That suffice for you?" he asked, Rebellion gave a brief, dim red pulse in his grip, the blood vanishing from her surface. Link sighed

"Yeah, that's what I thought, we'll figure it out." he said, with a sad grin. Dante set his sword aside, shaking his head.

"You've already got the fate of the world on your shoulders kid, don't put mine on top of it." the hunter said. He looked like he was about to say more but a howl in the distance cut them off. Link looked in their direction, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, he wanted to call back… He looked back to Rusl, who was also looking in the direction of the howls, hand on his sword.

"They're hunting." he said to the swordsman. He knew that his transformation was only made possible by dark magics, but he still felt a certain kinship with his fellow wolves.

"I know," Rusl said, eyes still searching the woods "that's what I'm worried about."

"We have a fire, they won't come too close." Link said, feeling Midna give him a reassuring nudge.

"The beasts have been getting more and more desperate." Rusl said "Fado was just telling me that he had one leap over his fence last time I was in the village." Link winced, this was why he was so hesitant to accept his transformation.

"They're hungry, can't blame them for that." Dante piped up from across the fire. "You guys get some shut eye, I'll take first watch. Wolves don't scare me." he said, meeting Link's eyes. Link just gave a soft sigh and shook his head. It was no use trying to convince Rusl, the man had grown up in a village that relied on livestock for nearly all of its income, wolves were an honest threat in the best of years. He lay back and closed his eyes, unsure if sleep would come to him when all he wanted to do was join the pack in their hunt.

-Legends-

Link was surprised that he'd been able to fall asleep but he was woken some time later by Dante nudging him roughly.

"Wha-" he started, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, only to be cut off by Dante shushing him. The teen suddenly felt much more awake with the threat looming on the horizon. He reached behind him and grabbed the Master Sword from where he'd set it. Rusl was already awake and also had his sword out.

"What is it?" Link hissed, giving Midna a mental poke only to find her wide awake and ready to fight if need be.

"Some kind of spirit." Dante said quietly "I can tell it's here but I can't see it. Otherwise I'd have let you sleep." Link rolled his eyes and quickly looked around the area, like Dante he could tell that there was something there but without being able to see it it was hard to pinpoint.

"Can you see it?" Rusl asked, his voice barely above a whisper. The three of them had their backs to the fire, swords out.

"Not like this." Link said without thinking. There was a pause, then a twinkle of light in the corner of his vision, headed straight for Rusl.

There was no time to consider the consequences, no time to think about what he was doing, Link just leapt. Midna, knowing the flow of their fights well enough that she pushed the dark magic over his form and the Hero transformed mid-leap and tackled the spirit, sinking his teeth into its shoulder. It retaliated with a slash from its scythe, but the wolf was too fast, having anticipated the move and leapt out of the way, taking it down with a swift bite to the throat.

Midna pulled the magic from his bones as soon as the fight was over and Link stood, breathing heavily, both from the adrenalin of the fight and from nerves. He turned to face the man who raised him.

"I… I can explain."

A/N: It's a little bit short but I can't think of a better spot to leave off than that, I'm so glad I get to go right into the next chapter! This was fun to write, I've always been of the opinion that it would be so interesting for Link to tell his family, as it it is, you can't/don't really tell any of the characters in the game.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	65. The Swordsman and the Wolf

A/N: Okay, so I didn't have a chance to get around to it last night but I'm on it now and then I'll be moving on to my own writing (which I am also super behind on) and D&D prep work, cause I'm DMing tomorrow for work and next weekend for my family and I've done like zero prep work… I really need to do that but I'm going to type something fun first.

Disclaimer: I don't own crap

The Swordsman and the Wolf

Link was hesitant to turn around, afraid of what Rusl was going to do. He looked over his shoulder slowly and found that Rusl was just standing, staring at him in shock, sword loosely grasped in one hand. He took one step back and then one more, getting a little too close to the fire for Link's taste.

"Rusl…?" he said, too afraid to come closer and scare the swordsman more but he didn't want the man to back into their campfire either. Rusl blinked, seeming to come slightly out of his shocked trance

"You… you just…" he stammered

"I know." Link said, fiddling with one of his bracers, avoiding looking at the other man. Dante was uncharacteristically quiet, sitting down on the other side of the fire, and Link wasn't sure if he appreciated the chance to explain for himself or not. Rusl sat down abruptly, took a couple deep breaths and then looked up at the teen.

"You were in the village a while back. I attacked you."

"Yes." Link said quietly, approaching the fire tentatively. When Rusl didn't flinch or move away, Link sat down.

"Why didn't you change back then?"

"I… couldn't. I couldn't control it at first, I wanted to tell you. I was scared Rusl, I… I was still getting the hang of things. Then… well then it was just too hard to tell you. I was afraid of how you'd react." he said, tossing a stray stick into the fire, he looked up at the man who'd raised him "I still am."

"Start from the beginning." Rusl said, his eyes hardening as he watched the teen. "How did this all happen? I… I know that you're special Link, I've known that for a while now. But. I don't know the details." the shock was starting to wear off and while he was still surprised at what he'd seen, the teen sitting in front of him was still the same one he'd taught to swing a sword and tucked into bed as a child. Link sighed, looking up at Dante, who was just watching curiously and gave a supportive nod.

"Midna? You might as well show yourself, if I'm going to explain all of this, it's going to be easier with you here." the Hero said, Midna pulled herself from Link's shadow slowly as to not startle the swordsman further. His eyes widened but he didn't do much else, Midna waved.

"It's nice to finally officially meet you. My name's Midna." she said

"It… talks…" Rusl said, waving back hesitantly, Midna made a face.

"She," Link said quickly before the imp could retaliate "is the princess of the Twili. There was a coup, the leader of which was supported by Gannondorf's magic, which is why Hyrule's in this mess to begin with. She's been helping me in this adventure." Link paused to collect his thoughts "Do you remember when the other kids were taken?" he asked, Rusl nodded

"I chased after them. They had been taken into the Twilight. Most people, when they're within the Twilight, they become spirits. I… I guess I got lucky." Link said softly, looking down at his hand, remembering the flash of light, the pain, the Twilit beast…

"You weren't lucky, you were chosen, the legendary Blue Eyed Beast." Midna said, Link glanced at her and laughed humorlessly.

"It definitely didn't feel that way at the time. I… After the change I woke up in the Castle's dungeons, with Midna's help I escaped, met Princess Zelda and went home." he said, Rusl watched him

"That's when you showed up in the village…"

"Yes." Link said "I couldn't change back until I released Faron from the Twilight. Then… well then I went on to release the other light spirits. After that…" he paused to think "After that Zant, the leader of the coup, cursed me, I went to retrieve the Master Sword," he gestured to the sword on his back "and now we're looking for the mirror shards. That brings us up to the present." he finished, looking at Midna, who just shrugged

"That's a lot of summarizing, but yes, that's the jist of it." she said

"So how…" Rusl paused "how do you change back and forth?" as he asked Midna pulled the crystal seemingly out of thin air.

"Zant was so kind to curse our Hero, so now we use the magic that he's provided us with against him." she said with a grin, the crystal vanishing once again.

"And… that's _the_ Master Sword?" Rusl pointed at the sword on Link's back. Link nodded, pulling it from its sheath, the sword giving off a slight glimmer in the firelight. Rusl stared at the legendary sword in front of him, giving a shaky breath before looking up at Dante. Link put the sword away.

"What about you?" he asked the hunter "Are you going to turn into a wolf too?" Dante laughed, shaking his head

"A wolf? No." he said

"So how do you fit into all of this?" Rusl asked the hunter "What's your story?"

"I fell through a portal." he said simply, Rusl looked at him strangely so he continued "Just like Midna, I'm from a different world. I hunt monsters there, so once I was here I thought I'd help the kid out." Dante said with a shrug. He didn't feel that Rusl needed the entirety of his own tale.

"Just like that?" Rusl asked

"Just like that."

A/N: More of a filler chapter but eh, happens sometimes.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	66. Lost Woods

A/N: I'm still behind… so sorry that this is really late… again, I'm still playing catch-up on both this and my own personal writing, and DM prepping, ugh… so much to do... ugh… okay, let's just get right on going, quit complaining and actually start working on filling the backlog.

Disclaimer: I… do not, own. Period. Full stop.

Lost Woods

The next morning was quiet, even for their group. Dante was typically pretty chatty but even he had fallen silent, feeling the awkwardness that hung in the air like a fog. He looked at Midna, who was actually out and visible that morning, hanging in the air like a ghost. She only shrugged in response, she wasn't unfamiliar with hiding things from others but when she'd revealed to Link that she was the rightful monarch of the Twili it'd been a little different. He'd already suspected that fact, not to mention that they hadn't known each other nearly as long as Rusl had known the hero. The man had practically raised the teen and hearing that he'd been given these strange gifts and powers in order to save the land had to be a bit shocking. They travelled in complete silence for the entire morning before Dante got so uncomfortable with the tension in the air that he finally spoke up.

"So… where are you taking us?" he asked the swordsman, catching up to him where he was leading the small party.

"There's a small grove up ahead where I've seen more monsters than usual. It's a strange place to begin with but typically the area the strangeness is… mostly harmless." Rusl said with a shrug

"Mostly?" Dante asked

"It's particularly easy to get lost in this area, I couldn't tell you how many times I've been here and somehow I still get turned around." He explained, looking up at the sky and the light dusting of clouds that hung low. Link perked up

"I think I've been here before, spent most of the afternoon chasing an annoying imp." he said "I got a bit lost too."

"You've been here?" Rusl looked at the teen in surprise. Link nodded

"Yes, I came here to collect the Master Sword."

"It was here? I know you said you came to get it but… it was here?" the swordsman had stopped walking to stare at the hero.

"It was that way." Link pointed to where the trees seemed to clear out a bit and where, all of a sudden the ground seemed to give out to a massive gorge, bits of rock sticking up and breaking up the otherwise vast drop. Dante whistled

"You got across that? How?" he asked, seeming to put voice to the question that Rusl wanted to ask himself.

"Midna helped me out and I jumped, I can jump pretty far on four legs…" Link said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking out across the gorge and the small spot of green forest that they could see across the way. Rusl squinted and looked across himself, holding up a hand against the bright sun.

"That's a long way to keep jumping, you must've been tired…" he said

"Being cursed is a pretty good motivator." the teen said with a shrug "Plus I was able to take breaks with this, not so much when I'm fighting for my life…" as Link finished, Rusl was nodding, the rush of a fight was something that the swordsman was all too familiar with.

"Well this is where I've seen most of the monsters coming from, I assumed that most of them were climbing out of the gorge, however knowing that you jumped, I supposed that some of them could be doing that too." he said, looking down the side of the cliff to the mists that clouded the lower parts of the valley. Dante joined him, looking down the edge

"What's down there?" he asked, Rusl just shrugged in response.

"It's never been worth the journey down, I assume some sort of river because of the mists, but who knows. How are you both going to get across this time?"

"I was hoping that Dante would take Midna and I across…" Link said, with the faintest hint of a smile at the hunter's exasperated expression.

"Kid, you are not the lightest person in the world, especially with all that armor you carry…" the half devil sighed.

"Please?" the hero asked "I'd rather not have to jump my along again, it took forever last time." Dante could practically _hear_ the smirk coming off of Midna at the request.  
"Fine, but if you squirm, I'm definitely dropping you." he grumbled. Rusl just watched the pair of them with a confused expression.

"How are you going to-" he was cut off as Dante activated his Devil Trigger and took off with the teen under his arm.

-Legends-

It was several minutes of straight flying before Dante landed and set down the hero and the passenger in his shadow. The hunter released his Trigger and took several deep breaths, flying longer distances was always a strain, so was maintaining his Trigger.

"Did you see his face?" the hunter said with a grin when he felt a bit more comfortable, Link didn't look quite as entertained.

"You could've warned him." the teen sighed

"I could have, but that would've ruined the fun." Dante said, dusting off the bottom of his coat and looking into the forest that lie ahead of them. Link gave him a distinctly annoyed look

"You get to explain it to him when we get back." the teen said before transforming and taking off into the trees, leaving the half devil to catch up.

"Oh come on kid!" Dante said, jogging after the wolf, hearing Midna's amused giggle as he did "And I carried him all the way over here…" he grumbled, following the presence of the imp through the woods.

A/N: Okay so it's taken me a lot longer to get around to finishing this chapter than I thought, but I am finally caught up on my personal writing, thank the gods… now I've just got one more chapter of this and then I'm pretty caught up on all of the things I need to be…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	67. Temple of Time

A/N: One more chapter, some DM preparations and then I'm actually pretty well caught up for my own personal to-do list, which would be pretty great considering that I've been behind for… like three weeks now, I'm finally cracking down and filling the backlog so that I can enjoy my free saturday tomorrow and play games with my friends guilt free :) I know, feeling guilty for not writing seems like a strange thing but… guess I'm a strange person

Disclaimer: I do not own the works that are involved in this.

Temple of Time

Link panted as the forest ground flew out from beneath his paws, he could faintly hear Dante behind him, following him with only the smallest amount of difficulty as the wolf leapt over roots and ducked under branches. The reason that he hadn't gotten lost the last time he'd been here was in part due to the forest imp who'd guided him along in its own annoying way and in part due to having a good nose. The imp was gone, kept away by it's own devices or the presence of the hunter. Link didn't know but he was thankful either way, he could rely on his own nose to guide them along. The grove where he'd picked up the Master Sword even _smelled_ old and that was the smell that he followed, growing stronger the closer that they got.

The sun seemed extremely bright when he burst into the clearing, Midna pulling the dark magic from his bones as he stood, Dante jogging in behind him a moment later, looking annoyed with a couple twigs still clinging to him.

"You could've said something before you darted off into the woods." the hunter grumbled, Link just gave him a half hearted glare.

"Like you said something to Rusl?" he asked. Midna started laughing then as the half devil just sighed, the annoyance never leaving his expression.

"Alright, I'm sorry, I already told you that I would explain when we got back, how many times do I have to apologize?" he grumbled. Link just gave the hunter a small grin and then turned to the clearing, looking it over. Rusl had mentioned a temple that was rumored to be here as they had made their way across Hyrule Field but he didn't see one. There was obviously remains of a building here but…

"So…" Dante started "Is this really where we're supposed to be?"

"According to Rusl there's been more monsters here than normal." Midna shrugged "But whether that's just my people's invasion or something else… I don't know. It's worth taking a look around." she floated from shadow to shadow, inspecting the remains of the building that rose around them.

"How long has this been here?" Dante said, looking closer at the crumbling stone and the massive tree root that grew through one of them.

"Probably since the time of the Hero of Time." Link said, dropping down into the clearing and walking past the statues, who thankfully this time, remained still. "The Master Sword was stored here, I'm just wondering how it got left here, forgotten about. According to the stories, the Master Sword was in the capital when the Hero touched it… but the capital is weeks away from here. This place just seems… abandoned."

"Doesn't help that it's across a massive gorge." Midna said

"Right…" Link sighed "I'm just wondering out loud." he looked at the pedestal that the Master Sword had been resting in, pulled the sword from his back, and looked at it.

"It was just sitting here?" Dante asked, coming up next to him "No rust or anything?"

"Nope, I mean it's a magical sword, why, do Devil Arms rust if you don't care for them?" Link asked curiously, Dante shook his head

"Nah, they might vanish with time if the soul of the devil gives up, but most will stick around for ages, pretty untouched by time."

"Yeah, unlike this place…" the hero sighed "Kinda makes this sword look out of place," he said, flipping the blade around and sticking it back in the pedestal. Midna let out a yelp and both men immediately were rushing back to her side, Link having pulled the Master Sword back from the pedestal as he did.

"Midna?! What happened?" Link came clambering back up the ledge to see Midna with a hand over her chest.

"I'm fine…" she said, waving them off "the statue that was right here just poofed out of existence, startled me is all." Link looked closer to the spot where the statue had been standing as she spoke and realized that the guardian statue had been guarding a door of all things.

"Huh…" the teen said, walking up to it and placing his hand against the surface, the stone smoothed by the passage of time. "I wonder if this used to be the entr-" the mark on the back of his hand flashed as did the door, sliding open of its own accord as though it hadn't been closed for untold centuries.

"You're as bad as Nero, why do you have to keep touching things you react to…?" Dante grumbled.  
"I didn't mean to open it." Link said

"Guys, look." Midna was pointing through the door "I don't think it leads straight through to that clearing." she said, the other two peered through the door and she was right, there was a strange film-like membrane in the doorway and the sunlight couldn't be seen on the other side. Dante took a deep breath and walked through, much to Link's surprise.

"And he accuses me of being impulsive…" he sighed before looking back at Midna "We might as well follow him." he said, she shrugged and the pair joined the hunter through the portal.

Once inside the trio couldn't help but look around in amazement, a massive temple rose up around them, the stonework no longer crumbling but a towering structure, the sunlight glittering in through stained glass windows.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore…"

A/N: Alright! Almost caught up! Woo!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	68. That Old Smell

A/N: I'm listening to the newest volume from versus music right now and hot damn if it isn't as amazing as always. I'm going to try and do a bit of this now, don't know how much, probably not all of it, just a smidge and see if I can't get myself to do more tomorrow :) Anywho, I'll get going, it's nice no longer being behind on stuff…

Disclaimer: Still don't own piddly squat

That Old Smell

Both Link and Midna looked at him when he spoke, clearly confused by the reference. Dante just shook his head.

"It's a…" he paused, they didn't have movies "it's from a story in my world." he finished lamely, looking around, taking in the sight of the massive temple that stood where only ruins had been before.

"Is this the Temple of Time?" Midna asked, floating up higher, taking in the cavernous feeling of the room.

"I don't know, I've only heard stories, never seen art of it before." Link said "Though I think that if people had artwork left of what it looked like, I don't think it would have been left to rot in the middle of a forest…" he took a few steps forward "I wonder if we went back in time?" he mused, laying a hand on the stone walls, they felt cool to the touch, he looked over his shoulder at the hunter, who seemed equally stunned by the recent turn of events.  
"I don't know, I highly doubt those ruins were some elaborate illusion but this just seems… well almost too fantastic for me, and that's saying a lot…" the half devil laughed "but hey, why not throw in time travel in the world hopping adventure?" he shook his head and walked forward, spinning around in the room and then noticed a raised bit on the floor.

"Hey kid," he said, waving a hand at Link, who walked over to where the half devil was standing. There was a slot in the floor that looked an awful lot like… "this look familiar?" Link nodded in response to the hunter.

"I think it's where the Master Sword was, but, in the past instead…" he said, pulling out the Master Sword and looking at the way it caught the colored light.

"Well it certainly did something last time you jammed it in the pedestal." Midna said, now floating over their shoulders "Why don't you try it again?" Link nodded sternly and lifted the blade, giving it a single flourishing spin before sticking it back in the pedestal. The entire platform gave a brief flash and then stairs slowly began to form leading up and away from them toward one of the stained glass windows…

"Ain't that convenient?" Dante said, testing the stairs, hesitant at first, and then confidently walking up once he was convinced they were solid enough to bear their weight. As he got closer to it, he became less convinced that the window was actually there, it was like every time he tried to look directly at certain demons, they would shift and shimmer and their forms would appear less solid than they seemed. As soon as he reached the peak of the stairs the appearance of the stained glass was completely gone and instead a hallway stretched in front of him, behind him he could hear Link pull the sword from the pedestal and the soft clink of his mail as he climbed the stairs. The hunter looked at the door and then back at the hero and the imp.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yes." Link said with a nod. Dante took a deep breath and pushed the door open with a small grunt as despite being in the past, the door was stiff and resisted being opened. As it swung inward both men held their breath only to let them out at the small stairway that descended in front of them.

"Well… here I was expecting to find people or monsters or… well anything really." Midna said from behind the pair of them.

"Yeah no kidding." Link sighed "Instead it's another empty temple. Does anyone actually live in these things?" he muttered

"I mean there were those rock people in the first one I helped you with." Dante suggested "If that counts?"

"I suppose…" the teen said, walking forward, down and around a corner to find… another door. He sighed, pressed a shoulder against it and heaved, the door grating against the floor and slowly creaking open. Thankfully the next room wasn't more hallway, instead opening up into a large room brightened by the sun. Dante took a deep breath and then looked back and the other two.

"It smells old in here…" he said, both of them just looked strangely at him "Y'know when it smells like dust and…?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I suppose." Link said, looking around the room then to notice the massive bell that hung in the middle. There were several exits to the room but the bell certainly took most of the attention of anyone who entered. The hunter gave a low whistle, dinging a knuckle off of the surface. The bell gave a very hollow ring but little else. He looked back at the teen, who seemed to be making a mental map of the place as they had seen it so far.

"Think I should give it a good whack?" the half devil asked, Link looked up made a face and then shrugged.

"Why not? What's the worst it could do?" he said

"I can think of a few things." Midna said "Booby traps for one." she pointed out with a grin.

"So take a few steps back, it'll be fine." Dante said, waiting for the pair to back up and then winding up and hitting the bell as hard as he could. It barely swung, giving an off ringing sound as he shook the sting from his knuckles.

"Dante?" Link said, the half devil looked back to see the teen pointing around the bell "It's not fine." The statue near one of the doors had come to life and was rather angrily marching toward them.

A/N: I felt like I was all over the place this chapter, but I am actually working my way to the end of this thing so… yeah maybe someday I'll work on other fanfics…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	69. Darknut

A/N: Another monday, another chapter, *sighs* so, had to go to the bank today because someone stole my card info… yup… had to take care of that. Not the end of the world but all the same, not exactly great news… ^^; So, yeah, doing better now that I've run a few miles and had some food but… yeah I'm just gonna get started on this chapter now.

Disclaimer: I apparently don't even own my own card info…

Darknut

The door slammed shut behind them with a thud. There was a crashing sound on the other side and the walls shuddered slightly, dust raining down on their heads.

"I told you, booby traps." Midna sighed

"I didn't think that the damned statue was going to come to life." Dante grumbled, pausing and listening to the other room. "I think it gave up." he said

"Well I hope that this is the right direction." Link said, peering down the dim hall to the next doorway "Because we're not going back in that other room for a bit… at least. I'm not exactly keen on getting smashed to bits." the teen said, glancing back at the door that separated them from the angry stonework and the fine web of cracks that spread from the center of the door.

"I also didn't think that the statue would survive Rebellion." Dante said. That had been the first thing he'd tried. When the greatsword had simply ricocheted off of the stone and done no damage at all the trio had fled to the nearest doorway.

"Well all we can do now is keep going." Midna sighed, floating down the hallway, both men following her after a short pause.

-Legends-

The trio had, fortunately, been heading in the right direction, not needing to go back into the main room for some time and when they had, hesitantly opening the door, the statue had gone still once more.

"Whatever you do," Link hissed at Dante while creeping around the room "do _not_ touch that bell."

"I think I learned my lesson the first time kid." Dante rolled his eyes, following the teen's stealthy approach though, despite the fact that he was sure pretty sure that statues didn't have ears.

The dungeon progressed relatively easily after that with only a few minor hiccups and one room full of some rather creepy bugs. The trio sat on the floor, taking a brief respite before one of the doors.

"This place is empty." Dante said, looking around them once again, Midna raised a brow

"Most of the dungeons we visit are empty." she said, she was actually resting on the floor for once instead of hovering near their heads

"Most of them at least have wildlife or monsters in them, this is just… empty, lifeless. It's hard to put my finger on it." the half devil said

"We are in the past," Link said "maybe that has something to do with it."

"You said that this place used to be in the middle of city though, wouldn't that mean that if we were in the past, there would be even more people here?" he shrugged "Not that it matters in the long run, we're here for the piece of the mirror, people or no."

"Maybe there was a reason that people abandoned this place." Midna said "Something that we've forgotten about. This place was after my people were banished so I can't give you any insight."

"Midna?" Link asked

"Yes?"

"Had your people ever heard of the Hero of Time?" the teen asked, the Twili shook her head

"No, that was after we were banished, not to mention, beyond the story of being banished from the land of light, not much remains to our people within the Twilight. We've developed our own stories, legends, and culture since we've adapted to the Twilight." she said, looking down at her diminutive hands with a soft sigh. Dante got to his feet with a grunt

"Well, there'll be plenty of time to dwell on legends of each other's people when all of this is over, up and at 'em," he pulled the teen to his feet and then offered a hand to the imp as well, who just seeped back into Link's shadow "let's get this door open." Dante continued, turning to the door in question. Link sighed and set his shoulder into it, shoving the stone open and then freezing slightly.

"Dante?" The half devil looked up at the calling of his name and paused as well "You know how you said there were no people?" the teen asked

"Yeah, y'know, I don't think monsters wearing suits of armor count as people." Dante said, drawing rebellion from behind his back one-handed, holding out Ivory with the other.

"I was just wondering." Link said, unsheathing the Master Sword and settling into a steady stance as the monster started to stalk forward menacingly.

"I mean it's not a bad question." Dante said conversationally as he started to strafe around the creature, it's head tilting slightly as it made note of the half devil trying to take it's backside and it adjusted accordingly to keep both of them in its sights. It's smart, the hunter thought as he pulled the safety back on Ivory.

"I mean, we're people." Link mused, his tone contrasting with the analytical expression on his face "Well, you're half-people, but I'm people, right?"

"Yes, though when I brought that up I wasn't counting us," Dante said "but. I definitely wouldn't count this one, would you?" Dante's finger tightened on the trigger, Link's sword twirled once in his grip

"No." Ivory's shot rang out, chipping off a bit of helmet as the Master Sword clanged into the creature's shield.

A/N: This is a little short but we're making progress through this dungeon. If you can't tell that I wonder about the Zelda geography and timeline well now you know. Also, for once I actually made it to the point in the dungeon that I meant to! I usually title the chapter and then never make it to the point that I intend to, instead having the guys talk too much or wonder about the state of the world too much… Can't help it, I find it fascinating to muse about

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	70. Magic Wand

A/N: I should be doing other things right now but… eh, taking a brief break to at the very least, get started on typing this up, I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm sitting for all of my personal goals this week. I'm really hoping I'm all on top of things so Friday I can just get up and play Sekiro, I'm soooo excited, and I beat DMC5 just in time! Also DMC5 is amazing, just sayin.

Disclaimer: I own a copy of DMC5 but something tells me that that doesn't count

Magic Wand

The monster barely had time to react as both warriors clashed into it, the sound of metal striking metal ringing out in the otherwise empty room. Dante dove low as the monster shoved Link backward, sliding beneath the teen as he gave ground to the monster, as to not take the follow-up strike. Rebellion created sparks as it cut grooves into the plate that covered the monster's legs. It grunted, taking a step back and hefting its sword for a strike for the half devil, who grinned, reaching deep and pulling on his Quicksilver ability, time slowing enough for him to easy roll to his feet, away from the heavy blade that had been meant for him. Releasing the ability as he readied his own and time sped back up as the monster reeled, trying to pull its heavy sword back up for another attack. This thing was laughably slow as it pulled back for another attack. Dante hadn't seen him pull it out but Link used that grappling hook type thing to pull himself to the back of the monster and get in a couple good cuts with the Master Sword before the thing could turn to try to attack him again and by that point Dante was on the attack again with Rebellion in hand. It stumbled back once… twice under the feriousity of the two men's attacks before it let out a roar, shoving both of them back and shucking armor rapidly.

Underneath was a much more lithe looking creature who hurled the heavy sword in the fighter's directions, both of whom dodged out of the way as it drew a slimmer blade from its side.

"I think we've actually made it mad." Dante said with a grin, readying his stance for the next assault.

"I think you're right." Link said, a bit more out of breath than the half devil, who just whirled into action against the monster. Link took a deep breath, twirled the Master Sword once and leapt into the fray after the hunter.

-Legends-

There was a clang as the monster hit the ground one more time but neither warrior relaxed for several seconds, waiting for it to get up again. When it made no motion for several seconds, even when Dante put an extra bullet into it both men relaxed.

"I thought it would never die…" Link sighed, flicking the majority of the blood off of the Master Sword before sheathing it over his shoulder. Dante let out a breath that he hadn't realized that he was holding.

"Yeah, that thing was pretty persistent, haven't come across something that determined to cut me into little pieces for a quite some time." the hunter said, glancing up and taking in the rest of the room in far more detail than he had in the midst of their fight. "Hey look, there's a treasure chest." he pointed and Link spun around to look at it.

"Yeah, it's probably the one that holds a weapon." he said, Dante just raised a brow at this, Link shrugged before continuing "There seems to be a pattern to these things, I go to a dungeon, root around for a while, fight something moderately big, get some cool weapon, root around some more, fight something bigger, get the thing I'm looking for, dungeon's cleared." Link walked over to the chest, looking it over for any obvious traps, not that he'd run into many but there had been one chest that he'd nearly been pricked by a dart trying to open.

"Don't get too jaded," Dante laughed, following the teen "though I am going to laugh if it's just a big pile of money or whatever this monster considered valuable." he gave the corpse another good kick as he passed it by.

"Ha ha." Link rolled his eyes, lifting the lid of the heavy chest open and peered inside curiously. Nestled on soft velvet within was a… rod? Link pulled it out, it was roughly the length of his forearm and once he picked it up a small orb of light began to glow.

"Congratulations. You found a flashlight." Dante said, looking around the room to see if there was any way to continue on from this point. A statue stood up on a raised platform and a gate closed off the door that was opposite the one they came in.

"A what?" Link asked, inspecting the rod, tilting it one way and the other, noting how the orb of light remained in the same spot.

"A torch."

"It's got to do something else…" the teen muttered giving it a good shake and grinning when the orb flung away from the rod and returned.

"So it's light you can fling, c'mon, help me with this gate." Dante pointed to the door. Link lifted his arm, ignoring the hunter and flinging the orb through the half devil. It passed through him harmlessly. Dante blinked, looking down at the point the orb had gone through

"That was… weird." he said. Link glanced at the statue, noticing the hole in it's chest, looked back down at the rod and raised his arm. Neither Midna nor Dante had time to stop him before he flung the orb at the statue. It struck the statue and it lit from within with green light. Link moved the rod and grinned when the statue moved in the same direction.

"I think it's a magic wand."

A/N: I don't know why I struggled with this chapter so bad… I literally wanted to do anything else… hopefully the next one goes better.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	71. Twilit Arachnid

A/N: Alright, going to do this chapter and then get going on working on groceries for the week, I'm excited cause Adam's going to be playing DMC5 here shortly :3 Then I can finally talk about spoiler-y stuff with him around! Also I want to get all my chores and stuff finished up for the week so then I can sit down and play Sekiro, which is also awesome, the gameplay's just plain fun :3

Disclaimer: I don't think I can even claim rights to the cutscenes I'm watching on Youtube for reference…

Twilit Arachnid

"That's a big lock…" Dante said, looking at the chains that covered the door as Link reached up on tiptoes to fit the key to the lock

"Yeah, there probably some ungodly monster behind this door." Link sighed, "There's always something huge behind these doors. The mansion you went to didn't have a door like this?" he looked over his shoulder at the half devil as the lock spun, falling to the ground with a clatter.

"No, it was just the home of a couple of Yeti's, they lived there, the only rooms that were locked were ones that they didn't use…" Dante said, lifting the door with a slight grunt, dust falling away from the seldom used joints of the old stone. Both men entered the room, noting the silence that fell over it, sunlight poured into the room from small holes in the roof and partially lit the space. At several points along the wall of the circular room, massive statues stood guard, crumbling but with their upper halves still intact. The majority of the difficulty of getting here involved the puzzles that the trio had had to solve with the varying statues in the rooms leading to this one and the key to open it. The door slammed closed behind them and Dante took a few steps forward, expecting something huge to appear before them any moment now. He looked back to the teen, about to make a quip about how this dungeon was so empty that even it's monsters had abandoned it when one of the skylights disappeared. All three of them raised their heads to the ceiling to see a massive spider crawling along it, weaving in and around the skylights.

"You know…" Dante said, pulling out Ebony and Ivory and pointing them at the ceiling "at least it's not covered in lava." The massive eye on the spider's back blinked once and it continued to crawl around, seemingly not too worried about the three guests that it had in the room.

"Why were you fighting lava spiders?" Midna asked eyes never leaving the monster on the ceiling.

"Long story, and it was mostly just one." the half devil said, he could hear Link drawing his bow and the twang! Sound of an arrow being loosed. It clattered off the armor as the eye closed. Silence reigned once more as the two fighters waited for the monster to open the weak spot on its back, their weapons trained on it as it crawled around. It didn't seem particularly interested in attacking them, instead just trying to avoid them. Eventually though the eye opened and it received several projectiles in response, it lost its grip on the ceiling and fell to the ground. Dante leapt forward, about to go on the offensive when one of the statues lifted its fist and the hunter had just enough time to turn away before the spider exploded, monster guts flying in every direction. He stood up, shaking the worst of it from his coat and shoulder, looking over at Link who just waved the wand that he had picked up rather sheepishly.

"Look out?" he said with a grin. Dante looked back to the spider that was very clearly no more.

"Well," the hunter said "that's one way to take care of that… though I do have to say that after the knight earlier, I was expecting this thing to put up more of a fight…"

"I figured that these statues had to do something and it landed right in front of it, I didn't think that one hit would squish it but…" the teen shrugged. As they spoke the spider's body disintegrated, the dark shards coalescing into another of the mirror shards. Midna grabbed it before it could continue to spread its dark influence.

"Well, I can teleport us back to the beginning of this place." she said "And I think we've only got one more piece to get." she paused "I just hope this is the right choice to make, this mirror isn't known for being a "good" artifact." she said

"Sometimes dark things can be used for good." Dante said "Now let's get back to the present and see if this resistance of yours has found anything about where the last piece is." The other two nodded, Midna creating a portal on the floor and Dante shook his head, internally preparing for the uncomfortable feeling of teleporting. One second they were in the large circular room and the next they were back out in the room that they'd started in. Link turned, headed back for the door they'd come in to get into the temple. When he pushed it open, that strange grey film covered it once more.

"Well at least we're not stuck in the past." Dante said, stepping through to find himself back in the clearing with the crumbling remains of the temple around him. Seconds later Link and Midna followed him out. Link paused upon exiting and pulled out the wand that he'd picked up, it no longer glowed with magic and he shook it, hoping to revive its power.

"The magic gone?" Midna asked

"Maybe it only worked in the past." Dante said

"Maybe…" Link stuck it back into the pocket that he stored most of his gear in "Maybe we'll be able to fix it." he said. "I suppose we should probably head back to Castle Town huh? Don't suppose you have the power to teleport us closer?" he asked the imp who just grinned.

"Perhaps, though I might need a few minutes first, then, to Castle Town it is."

A/N: I'm having fun watching Adam play over his shoulder, though I'm trying to be good and finish the things that I need to first ^^;

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	72. Interlude

A/N: Alright, so maybe I should be taking a break but I've got a good feeling now that I'm finally out of the Temple of Time and actually well on my way to finishing this story that this might go better, plus this chapter's going to take a slightly different direction, so I guess it's a little bit of break? Idk, I'm stalling as I finish listening to an episode of Critical Role ^^;

Disclaimer: Newp

Interlude

The door was locked. The teen furrowed his brow, the door was never locked, even when there was no one here, the door was never locked… He sighed and went around to the back, relief flooding through him when the back door proved to be open. The air inside smelled musty, with a hint of food that had gone bad underneath it. Clearly it had been a while since someone had been in here.

"Dante?" he called, silence followed his words. No response. He sighed again, running a hand through his hair before heading up the stairs.

"Dante I swear if you're still asleep I'm going to-" the bedroom was empty, the sheets rumpled in the middle of the bed and sunlight displaying the dust that hung in the air through the window.

"What the…" he paused, turning around, looking over the railing down into the main office "...hello…?" still there was no response. The phone rang and he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden noise. He paused, looking around as the phone continued to ring and then slowly headed down the stairs, looked over his shoulder one more time. Positive that no one else was in the office, he slammed a fist down onto the desk, trying to get the phone to leap into his hand as he'd seen Dante do many a time. He clambered after it as it sprung off in the wrong direction snagging it before it could hit the ground.

"Devil May Cry," Nero said, wondering how many missions that Dante had let slip through the cracks since he didn't appear to have an answering machine hooked up.

"...Dante?" a young girl's voice came through the other end. "You sound different, why haven't you been answering your phone? I've been trying to get ahold of-"

"Dante's not here, this is Nero." the teen said, pulling the chair out and sitting down in it. "Can I help you?"

"Oh… do you know where Dante is?" she asked "I checked the shop a few days ago and he wasn't there."

"I don't, do I know you?" the partial devil asked, looking around Dante's desk, hoping that the hunter had left some sort of note on where he'd gone. Rebellion wasn't hanging on the wall so he had to be out somewhere, the question was just… where?

"My name's Patty," she seemed like she was about to go off into another ramble so Nero piped up again

"Right, Dante's mentioned you a few times, you said you stopped by a few days ago?" he asked, making a face, there was nothing indicating where Dante had gone, granted the half devil's missions had the potential to last weeks or even months depending on what it was for but the teen hadn't heard anything about any huge demon infestations. And if Dante had been out on mission for this long, the teen rather expected to be called in, as back up if nothing else.

"Yeah, I was hoping that he would stop by Freddi's with me but he wasn't in. I took out some of the food that he'd left out." she said and Nero nodded, that would be why it didn't smell terribly of rotting food.

"Gotcha, yeah, well he's not here, let me know if you hear from him, okay?" the teen said

"And why should I tell you?" she sounded suddenly suspicious. Nero laughed lightly

"He's a good friend, helped me out in Fortuna a while back." he said, he couldn't blame her, if she was familiar with the type of people that usually called on Dante…

"Oh! He did mention you! Okay, yeah, I'll let you know!" and then there was static as she hung up on the other end. Nero tossed the phone back onto the receiver and sighed.

"Now what…?" he said, the office was back to being extremely quiet, there was the faintest of hums of the many, many devil arms that Dante had collected over the years but beyond that… just… nothing. He looked back to the desk, there was one other phone number written down there, and if he had to take a guess, that was not Dante's handwriting… With nothing else springing to mind to try the teen dialed in the number.

"Hello? Dante? You actually saved that number I gave you?" It was a woman's voice, fairly familiar but Nero couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Hello, this is Nero." the partial devil said

"Oh, hi Nero, what're you doing at Devil May Cry? I thought you were trying to get your own business off the ground lately?" Lady, that who it was, Nero thought as she kept speaking

"Uh, well, yes, that's kind of why I came here, do you know where Dante's gotten off to?" he asked, picking up a pen and doodling on a piece of paper just to fiddle with something.

"I haven't heard from him since I gave him a mission about two weeks ago. I called a few days ago and didn't get an answer but I figured that he'd run out of money and that his phone line had been cut again." she said and then she paused "But if you're calling from the office…"

"Yeah, I just talked to Patty, she was here a couple days ago, no one was here, no one's here now…" Nero explained "I wasn't sure who's number this was but I was hoping that they had a clue as to where Dante was…"

"Stay where you are, I'm coming to you."

A/N: Alrighty, this was a nice change of pace instead of trying to keep pushing through dungeons, I may take the next chapter this way as well, just to keep things interesting. I mean according to Dante he's been gone for over a month, it'll be interesting to see if everyone else can figure out what happened to him! For now I'm going to get working on DM prep work and some cosplay pieces :3

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	73. The Search

A/N: Doing pretty good today in terms of getting things done but I'm currently warring with my apartment's maintenance group… Either the guy's an idiot or he's flat out lying about what's going on because my washer squeaks… bad. With nothing in it. And they're trying to say we're putting too many clothes in it -_- pretty sure nothing is not too many clothes. Grr… just gonna write now and try to forget the whole washer thing…

Disclaimer: I don't even own my washer… unfortunately.

The Search

Nero poked around the office while he waited, familiarizing himself with the varying Devil Arms that hung on the walls. There were quite a few that he didn't recognize along with some skulls from some of the more impressive devils that the older hunter had killed through the years. He walked over to the closet behind the office, near the small kitchen that was as bare as one that had never been used. The teen scoffed, shaking his head and reached out to the doorknob of the closet door, pausing when he felt the flair of demonic energy tingle down his fingers. He looked back up to the door and then opened it, not expecting what he saw.

The closet was filled with boxes. A broom, disturbed by his sudden opening of the door, fell with a clatter to the floor. The partial devil made a face, confused, he could still sense some demonic presence but didn't see anything. There were a few books, some dusty cleaning supplies, a box of ammo… Nero tilted one of the boxes, his arm flaring as he did and was surprised to see several swords and other demonic weapons.

"Jeez old man, hoarder much?" There was the sound of a vehicle pulling up and Nero left the closet, closing it behind him. Moments later both Lady and Trish entered the building.

"Hey Nero, looking good." Trish pulled him into a quick hug and the teen awkwardly returned it. Trish was touchy with her friends and the teen still wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Hey Trish," he said after separating from her. Lady just waved, leaning back against the abused pool table.

"So." Trish started, looking around the place, crossing her arms "What was all of this about? Not that I object to being called over for a relaxing couple of hours, but that usually doesn't start with meet me at the shop asap." she glanced at Lady and then at Nero.

"Dante's missing." Nero said simply, Trish raised a brow and then looked over at Lady once more.

"Are you sure he's not on some bender?" the she-devil asked "It wouldn't be the first time."

"There's usually some warning signs before that." Lady said "Plus the shop's in pretty good shape if that's what's going on. The worst I can see is some dust and a trash can that needs to be emptied." Lady shrugged "When was the last you heard from him, because I called him a week ago and got no answer, I had just assumed that his phone line had been cut again."

"I called him two and a half weeks ago with a mission." Trish said, thinking back "I haven't spoken to him since, I've been busy with a slightly more… covert mission."

"So that's the last time since any of us have heard from him." Nero said "Patty hasn't heard from him in a while either."

"I called Morison on the way over," Lady said "he hasn't heard from Dante in at least two weeks, but he did follow that up by saying he hasn't been trying for at least a week." she sighed "This is why Dante needs a cell."

"I've been trying to get him one for ages now." Trish sighed "He doesn't think it would survive the abuse he'd likely put it through." she said. They were all quiet for a moment.

"Do you remember what that mission was?" Nero spoke up. Trish thought for a moment

"It was a small portal," she said "I needed him to close it. I was caught up with something else at the time but I figured it couldn't be that much trouble. We can go to the site but I doubt we'll find anything, I stopped by when the contact called me and said that Dante had never collected the cash for the job. The portal was closed, I collected and just assumed that he'd forgotten."

"Well it can't hurt to go check it out." Lady said "It's the best lead we have."

-Legends-

It wasn't a long drive out to the site that Trish had mentioned, but long enough that dusk was falling as they walked out to the point that her client had described.

"See, there's nothing-" she was cut off as there was a flash and a soft warbling sound, a strange black and blue portal appearing in midair. All three of them tensed but nothing happened other than the blue lines pulsing lightly out from the dark circle in the middle. There was a slight tug toward the portal that all three of them took a step back from.

"What was that about the portal being closed?" Lady snarked, Trish shot her a look.

"I couldn't feel anything before this opened up," she looked at Nero "could you?"

"No," Nero shook his head and flexed his fingers "but I don't like the way it feels now, it doesn't feel… normal." he said, Trish nodded in agreement.

"Do you think Dante went through it?"

"That would explain why he's been awol." Lady said "Also he's not one to leave a job undone."

"Should… we go through it?" Nero said, both women looked at him like he was crazy. "What?" he said

"We have zero idea what's on the other side. Nor if we went through if we could come back." Lady said

"That didn't stop Dante." the teen shrugged

"Dante's an idiot." Lady countered "I didn't think you were too. Let's do some research before we jump to the extreme solution. Dante can take care of himself wherever he is, he can wait a little bit longer."

"Alright." Nero sighed, looking over his shoulder at the strange portal.

A/N: I was seriously debating just having Nero rush in XD But I like to think that he thinks things through sometimes.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	74. World Beyond the Portal

A/N: Trying to finish up all my personal goals for the day so that I can hop on minecraft for a bit this evening before figuring out how I'm going to watch GoT tonight (who else is super excited?). So busy day… Anywho I'm going to get going on this chapter, this should be the last interlude esque chapter before we get back to the dungeon hopping.

Disclaimer: How many ways can I say that I don't own this thing? Clearly not enough…

World Beyond the Portal

Nero had just gotten off the phone with Kyrie, letting her know that he was going to be a little while while he and Trish and Lady figured out where Dante had gone; then the phone was ringing all over again and he picked it back up.

"Devil May Cry?" he said

"Hey Nero, it's me," Lady said "I've got absolutely nothing on this kind of portal, nothing we've seen has ever looked like this." she continued "I don't know if Trish is going to have anything on this thing, I doubt it, but she's pulled surprises out before. I'm going to head home for the night and try to dig into a couple of my contacts tomorrow, you going to be okay at the shop by yourself?"

"I'll be fine." Nero said "Thanks Lady."

"Don't mention it, I'm glad you pointed it out before too much time passed." the line went dead and the teen sighed, tossing it back onto the cradle and looked over to the large pile of books that he'd pulled from varying closets around Devil May Cry. He'd been a little surprised, never having taken Dante for a reader before but it paid to know your enemy he supposed. So far none of them had been in the least bit helpful but he had only gotten through about half the pile that he'd pulled. This was after he'd sorted through them and already set aside the ones that definitely weren't going to be relevant. The door chimed as it was opened and he looked up, about to tell the customer that they weren't open and stopped when Trish sauntered in.

"Hey." he said, standing with another pile of books and taking them over to the couch, setting them on the end table before settling on the worn leather.

"Hey, find anything on your end?" she asked, resting on one of the arms.

"Nothing about this portal, found a lot of interesting summoning spells." he said with a shrug, skimming over the table of contents of the top book. "You?"

"Nothing, no one's ever seen anything quite like it. Seen plenty of strange portals but nothing that matches this description. I have a contact halfway across the world who might know something about it but she often takes days to get back with me." she said

"Well, it's better than nothing." Nero said, flipping to one of the hellgate related chapters

"Do you need any help?" she asked, eyeing the pile of books that Nero had precariously balanced on the end table.

"Nah, go get some rest, I know that you've got jobs to do too." he waved a hand, trying to decipher the old demonic tongue that the passage was written in.

"Don't be afraid to call me." she said

"Yeah," he said absently, still focused on the book. Trish snorted and stood. The door chimed and she was gone and Nero was alone with the pile of books.

He couldn't say exactly how much time had gone by but when he finally closed the last book it was dark outside again and he'd found no new information on the damned portal. The teen grumbled and ran a hand through his hair before standing a stretching the aches out of his bones.

"Screw this." he said, tossing the book onto the couch and grabbing his keys from the desk.

-Legends-

The portal was visible once again as he walked through the field and pulsed lightly with the same eerie blue light as it had the evening before. Nero approached cautiously and once again could feel the light pull toward the portal.

"What are you…?" he said, reaching out toward it tentatively with his demonic arm. His arm pulsed but not the same way that it had when he'd been close to the other hellgates that Agnus had constructed back in Fortuna. He frowned and then _reached_ with his Bringer into the portal, curious as to what he'd pull back. Nothing was apparently the answer. He scoffed frustratedly and glared at the portal.

"He might be an idiot but it sure beats digging through mounds of research." Nero said softly before shaking his head and running forward, leaping through the portal.

-Legends-

Link raised his nose to the air and sniffed. There was something strange on the wind… He'd stepped away from their camp to hunt. Midna had offered to accompany him so that he could transform back whenever he wanted but he politely declined. Since talking to Dante about it, he'd started to try to be more comfortable in his wolf form and it had been… well easier than he anticipated. He'd needed to hunt and both his companions had simply acknowledged it and let him go. But now… now he was wishing that Midna had come with him because there was something strange out here… He lifted his nose to the air again and started to follow the trail to its source. It smelled sharp and with a tinge of oil and that strange smoky smell that always seemed to follow Dante around. The last thing he was expecting to find was another person. Especially one that was asleep facedown on the ground. They were alive… but unresponsive. Link huffed, thinking for a moment before lifting his head and howling to the sky, hoping that his companions would understand what he meant and come to him.

A/N: Alright onto other projects for the day!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	75. Stranger

A/N: I know, I know, last week I didn't post a chapter, well once this one comes out I will have posted one but, idk I was being lazy, it was Adam's bday and easter? That's all the excuses I have, mostly laziness. Been playing a lot of minecraft lately which always eats up way more time than I think… anywho, going to get started so I can finish up the rest of my to do list before Game of Thrones tonight. Battle for Winterfell!

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these things… to this day.

Stranger

Nero came back to consciousness slowly, he could hear people around him, but the conversation made no sense.

"Took you guys long enough." it was a male voice, soft, gentle sounding.

"How were we supposed to know what you meant? You could have been howling for any reason." that was a voice that he recognized… but he couldn't place it in his half conscious state.

"This is why I offered to go with you." This voice was feminine.

"I didn't think I was going to run into another person, let alone an unconscious person and one that was from your world. Most of the time I don't need someone keeping an eye on my hunts." the soft spoken voice said.

"How did the kid get here…?" the second voice said. Wait… that was Dante's voice! Nero blinked blearily, only to put a hand to his head at the sudden rush of blood causing his vision to grey out.

"Whoa kid, take it easy." there was a hand on his shoulder which he promptly shrugged off.

"I'm not a kid old man," he grumbled, taking a couple of deep breaths before trying to open his eyes again and looking around at Dante's companions. There were two of them, a young man, nearly the same age as himself wearing green with pointed ears and a… demon…? He pointed at the small creature.

"I'm not the only one seeing the demon right?" he asked with a raised brow. The demon made a face.  
"I'm a Twili thank you very much." she said, Dante just laughed

"She's a friend kid." he said and Nero sighed

"Okay, and the elf?" he pointed to the teen in green this time.

"Hylian." the teen corrected and Nero gave him a look at the strange word.

"Also a friend." the hunter said with a shrug and a sympathetic look to the teen in green. Said teen just sighed and offered Nero a hand up from the ground.

"My name's Link, the Twili is Midna." he said, to his credit he didn't react in the slightest when Nero took the offered hand with his Devil Bringer.

"Nero. How do you always end up with the weirdest friends?" he asked looking over to Dante

"Do you include yourself in that number kid?"

"Shut up." Nero grumbled.

"How did you get here?" Link asked, starting to walk away to a small light in the distance, which Nero quickly realized was a campfire.

"I walked through a portal." he said and Dante put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, where?" the hunter asked

"The same place you likely did, it was still open by the way." Nero said "You've been missing for like two weeks."

"It's only been two weeks for you?" Dante asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, how long has it been for you?" Nero returned, Dante looked at Link and Midna as he answered

"Two months?" one of them nodded at his answer "Yeah, two months." Nero paused as Dante gave up that bit of info.

"Seriously? What have you been doing? Dinking around?" the partial devil asked

"No, there haven't been any portals that go back to our world. I don't know if it's possible to go back." Dante said "Not to mention, I've been trying to help Link out along his own journey." he continued, they'd arrived back at the campfire and the four of them sat back down along the outer edges of it. Nero shook his head, Dante always the bleeding heart for everyone else's problems… it was probably half the reason that the half devil was in so much debt to his friends and the bank alike. He sighed and then looked up to the teen who had been silently assessing him during the walk back.

"So what is your story?" he asked. Link looked to Dante who just shrugged.

"The kid's pretty trustworthy." the hunter said.

"I was chosen to defeat the monster known as Ganondorf." he said, and it was only the utter seriousness in his voice that kept Nero from laughing at the name. Instead he said

"Chosen? By who? Townsfolk by vote? Did you draw the short stick?" he thought back to shifts at the Order and no one wanted the forest shift at night, so badly that they'd always drawn straws for it.

"The goddesses." Link said, dead serious. Nero just raised a brow and looked to Dante

"I wish he was kidding." the half devil said. Nero let out a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You two are on a god assigned mission." he pointed at Midna and Link. "And you don't know how to get home?" he pointed over to the hunter who gave a short laugh

"If you really want to summarize it, yeah."

"Alright. How can I help?"

A/N: I know, I know, I'm shorting it a bit, but it's a bit of a filler chapter, get Nero up to speed so we can move back to the dungeon crawling and then hopefully finish this story up. I've already decided what I want to work on next and I'm pretty excited. :)

Till next time,

-Winged Element


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